Reports Have AOL to Cut Up to 1,000 Jobs

In order to meet its long-held revenue target of $40 billion for this year, media giant AOL Time Warner , plans to cut as many as a thousand jobs according to various media reports over the weekend. The layoffs could affect “hundreds” of employees at AOL’s Dulles, Va.-based online operations. Earlier this year, the company cut 15,000 jobs, including 750 in Dulles.

The additional job slashing comes in a slumping advertising market and the recent announcement by AOL Time Warner that its second quarter earnings were lower than expected. In July, the company reported a net loss of $734 million (17 cents per diluted share). The results were lower than the estimated net loss of $924 million, or 22 cents per share, that the company declared during the second quarter of 2000.

When it announced its quarter results, the company said it has to be realistic about the soft advertising market for the short term. Although they think the downturn in advertising demand has stabilized, company officials said they only expect a slight upturn in the second half of the year.

Chief financial officer Mike Kelly said the $40 billion in advertising revenues it expects for the full year were at the top of the company’s range. He said he expects cash earnings of between $1.28 to $1.32 per share for the year, higher than analysts’ expectations of $1.23 per share.

But over the weekend, both the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal were reporting that AOL Time Warner thinks the only way to meet to its target goals is further reductions in the company’s 90,000 work force.