AOL's Patch local news site to lay off up to 500
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
AOL says it is laying off up to half the workforce at its Patch local news sites and shuttering or consolidating roughly 150 of the 900 sites while looking for partners for others.
Up to 500 of Patch's 1,000 employees will go in the layoffs, which started on Friday. In all, the layoffs amount to about 9 percent of AOL's total workforce of 5,500.
AOL Inc. chief executive Tim Armstrong co-founded Patch, an ambitious experiment in local news meant to compete with newspapers, in 2007. AOL bought it in 2009 after Armstrong had taken over the helm of the New York-based Internet company.
But media analyst Ken Doctor says Patch ran into the same problems that newspapers had already discovered -- that it's expensive to cover local news.
Sarra Sounds Off, Season 3, Ep 5: Top football teams in action and Nassau soccer playoff picks Gregg Sarra sounds off on Wantagh vs. Bethpage and Ward Melville vs Sachem North, plus Michaeil Sicoli has his Nassau soccer picks, an update on the high school fantasy football standings and the plays of the week.
Sarra Sounds Off, Season 3, Ep 5: Top football teams in action and Nassau soccer playoff picks Gregg Sarra sounds off on Wantagh vs. Bethpage and Ward Melville vs Sachem North, plus Michaeil Sicoli has his Nassau soccer picks, an update on the high school fantasy football standings and the plays of the week.
