AOL to layoff a third of staff

NEW YORK - AOL LLC, an Internet company struggling to adapt to an advertising-driven economy, is looking to shed more than a third of its work force as it prepares to spin off from Time Warner Inc. next month.AOL, which now employs 6,900 workers, is asking for 2,500 volunteers to accept buyouts and plans to resort to layoffs if it does not get enough people.

The voluntary offer is open to all employees from Dec. 4 though Dec. 11, AOL spokeswoman Tricia Primrose said. Time Warner, the New York media conglomerate, plans to spin AOL off as a separate company, AOL Inc., on Dec. 9.

AOL hopes to trim annual costs by about $300 million. The job cuts still need approval from the new AOL board.

Primrose would not say where the cuts would occur or what positions they would involve. The company is based in New York but also has major operations in Northern Virginia.

AOL’s legacy dial-up Internet access business has been fading for many years, and the company already had shed thousands of jobs as it pared down that unit to focus more on producing content and serving advertising. But AOL had staggered in those efforts, even before advertising hit a slump because of the recession. It named one of Google Inc.’s advertising chiefs as chief executive this year to revive that business.

AOL’s operations still make money, but that profit has been falling. Nonetheless, AOL does have a few bright spots, including the popular tech blog Engadget and the celebrity Web site TMZ.com, a joint venture with another Time Warner unit, Telepictures Productions, credited with being the first to report major developments including Michael Jackson’s death.

Time Warner has said that AOL will take about $200 million in charges for severance and other costs related to the restructuring.

Shares in Time Warner fell 92 cents, or 2.8 percent, to $31.90 in morning trading Thursday.

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