Verizon-owned AOL is planning to lay off about 500 employees, or around 5 percent of its staff.
AOL CEO Tim Armstrong told Recode about the decision that would affect its corporate operations, with resources being shifted more towards mobile, video and data offerings.
“The layoffs are related to a 2017 strategy where we will add to our business,” he said. “These are super-targeted by area, and we will be re-growing especially in video and mobile.”
An AOL representative confirmed plans for layoffs, but didn’t provide further details.
AOL added about 1,500 staffers this year via an advertising deal with Microsoft and its acquisition of Millennial Media.
Armstrong told Recode that the layoffs are not related to ongoing discussions with Yahoo about the planned $4.6 billion takeover of the latter by Verizon. The two sides have discussed possible fallout from a privacy breach that affected 500 million customer accounts. Analysts have said the issue could lead to Verizon paying less for Yahoo.
