Snippet: AOL Cuts Most of AIM Staff ☇

Although its not doom-and-gloom entirely (seems like they want to make this unit more profitable), things aren’t looking good:

On Friday, AOL notified more than 40 employees from its West Coast offices that they would be out of jobs by the end of the month…The AOL Instant Messenger group took the deepest cut so far. A former AOL employee said the group was “eviscerated and now only consists of support staff.” This person, who asked not to be named because they were not allowed to speak publicly about the company, added that “nearly all of the West Coast tech team has been killed.”

…Two employees familiar with the Instant Messenger group operation said the company now has close to $50 million a year in revenue from the product. Before the layoffs, the cost to keep Instant Messenger running was close to $25 million a year, they said. The company’s goal is to get these costs down to $2 to $3 million a year, generating more than $20 in additional profit.