7 ms·

Aol Is Restructuring, Layoffs and Site Closures Likely

40 points by devNoise 12y ago

knd775 12y ago
I'm wondering if Techcrunch will be affected by this. They didn't really mention anything about that. It'd be a shame if anything were to happen to such a site.
- dennisnedry 12y ago
  I doubt it. TechCrunch actually does provide a lot of value. I think the chopping block will be limited to meme-sites like PawNation.
DigitalSea 12y ago
Interesting that Techcrunch mentions traffic percentage drops of other AOL owned properties like Huffington Post and PawNation, but carefully leaves itself out of that particular paragraph. I honestly can't recall the last time I saw a Techcrunch article shared on my LinkedIn or Facebook feed, it feels like TheVerge has done a better job at taking the tech mantle (but that is just my opinion), maybe the people I know just prefer sites like TheVerge instead. I think Techcrunch needs a little bit of a shake-up to be quite honest. The quality of the articles have been very sub-par for a very long time. I am surprised Shingy hasn't had one of his "brain farts", yelled gibberish for 20 minutes like he usually does and save AOL.
- dennisnedry 12y ago
  I've lost all faith in The Verge after seeing junk about apps like Slack being down, therefore causing the "editors" to not know what to do with themselves. Great journalism.
- vxNsr 12y ago
  The verge is now more of a culture site than a tech site, they've really embraced the "culture culture" aspect of their motto. Often their tech articles are left wanting while having too many movies and tv shows articles. I've found that arstech or anandtech offer a lot more with less whining.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
Animats 12y ago
AOL may have to return to its profitable core business - dial-up. Yes, AOL still has millions of dial-up accounts, and those bring in more revenue than the content farms. Somebody has to serve middle America.
- bN58SH3pZB 12y ago
  You're joking right? Do you have any idea how much money AOL makes from running their own online advertising network on these content sites? It is not chump change.
- Animats 12y ago
  Who modded that down? Look at AOL's income graph. (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BnDHPXzCYAAS2Zu.png https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BnDHPXzCYAAS2Zu.png) AOL still has over 2 million members paying $20 or so a month, and that's where all their profits come from. Their "content" business loses money.
  - mikeryan 12y ago
    (I didn't mod it down, but..) I don't think anyone looks at the dial-up business as one thats going to do anything but shrink year over year. Any growth for AOL is going to come out of something thats not as an ISP for dial-up. Content farming consistent with AOL's DNA that makes money and, in theory, is way to see some growth. Looking at that chart is confusing to me because I can't tell why sometimes their Platform business kills it, and other times its a loser. That seems to be the business to focus on.
    - sedachv 12y ago
      > Looking at that chart is confusing to me because I can't tell why sometimes their Platform business kills it, and other times its a loser. They're making money Q4 2011, Q4 2012, Q4 2013 and to a lesser extent Q3 2013. Looks like it might be Christmas shopping ads.
  - djrogers 12y ago
    I have no idea what the breakdown is, but a not insignificant number of AOL's "members" don't use dial-up, but run the AOL client over their cable/dsl connection. That costs ~$10/mo or less. Crazy, but true...
kstrauser 12y ago
While there are some (to me) big sites rumored to be on the chopping block, I'd literally never heard of several candidates before this article. Am I that out of touch with mainstream browsing habits, or had AOL gone crazy with buying content houses whether or not they had audiences?
sleazebreeze 12y ago
Of note from the article is that Huffington Post is not the money-maker it used to be. I have noticed this from my own browsing habits. I actively avoid Huffington Post if I want anything resembling unbiased or accurate news. More often these days, it seems like they are willing to regurgitate any old blog post or celebrity tweet as a news item. That type of content is a lot less valuable to me (and it seems to others as well) than original reporting and journalism - anything other than "what this celebrity posted to instagram".
- sremani 12y ago
  Because of the click-baity and rah rah rally the base type of political slant even on mundane of the news, made people to leave Huffington Post in droves.
LaSombra 12y ago
Funny thing: I got an offer from Aol last month.
rakeshsharmak 12y ago
Hopefully, Shingy will have one of his "brain farts" and things will get better at AOL.
- libraryatnight 12y ago
  He must not have solved for the missing human experience, yet.
phacks 12y ago
I just learned that AOL was still alive.

40 points by devNoise 12y ago

I'm wondering if Techcrunch will be affected by this. They didn't really mention anything about that. It'd be a shame if anything were to happen to such a site.

dennisnedry 12y ago
I doubt it. TechCrunch actually does provide a lot of value. I think the chopping block will be limited to meme-sites like PawNation.

DigitalSea 12y ago

Interesting that Techcrunch mentions traffic percentage drops of other AOL owned properties like Huffington Post and PawNation, but carefully leaves itself out of that particular paragraph. I honestly can't recall the last time I saw a Techcrunch article shared on my LinkedIn or Facebook feed, it feels like TheVerge has done a better job at taking the tech mantle (but that is just my opinion), maybe the people I know just prefer sites like TheVerge instead. I think Techcrunch needs a little bit of a shake-up to be quite honest. The quality of the articles have been very sub-par for a very long time. I am surprised Shingy hasn't had one of his "brain farts", yelled gibberish for 20 minutes like he usually does and save AOL.

dennisnedry 12y ago
I've lost all faith in The Verge after seeing junk about apps like Slack being down, therefore causing the "editors" to not know what to do with themselves. Great journalism.
vxNsr 12y ago
The verge is now more of a culture site than a tech site, they've really embraced the "culture culture" aspect of their motto. Often their tech articles are left wanting while having too many movies and tv shows articles. I've found that arstech or anandtech offer a lot more with less whining.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

Animats 12y ago

AOL may have to return to its profitable core business - dial-up. Yes, AOL still has millions of dial-up accounts, and those bring in more revenue than the content farms. Somebody has to serve middle America.

bN58SH3pZB 12y ago
You're joking right? Do you have any idea how much money AOL makes from running their own online advertising network on these content sites? It is not chump change.
Animats 12y ago
Who modded that down? Look at AOL's income graph. (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BnDHPXzCYAAS2Zu.png https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BnDHPXzCYAAS2Zu.png) AOL still has over 2 million members paying $20 or so a month, and that's where all their profits come from. Their "content" business loses money.
- mikeryan 12y ago
  (I didn't mod it down, but..) I don't think anyone looks at the dial-up business as one thats going to do anything but shrink year over year. Any growth for AOL is going to come out of something thats not as an ISP for dial-up. Content farming consistent with AOL's DNA that makes money and, in theory, is way to see some growth. Looking at that chart is confusing to me because I can't tell why sometimes their Platform business kills it, and other times its a loser. That seems to be the business to focus on.
  - sedachv 12y ago
    > Looking at that chart is confusing to me because I can't tell why sometimes their Platform business kills it, and other times its a loser. They're making money Q4 2011, Q4 2012, Q4 2013 and to a lesser extent Q3 2013. Looks like it might be Christmas shopping ads.
- djrogers 12y ago
  I have no idea what the breakdown is, but a not insignificant number of AOL's "members" don't use dial-up, but run the AOL client over their cable/dsl connection. That costs ~$10/mo or less. Crazy, but true...

kstrauser 12y ago

While there are some (to me) big sites rumored to be on the chopping block, I'd literally never heard of several candidates before this article. Am I that out of touch with mainstream browsing habits, or had AOL gone crazy with buying content houses whether or not they had audiences?

sleazebreeze 12y ago

Of note from the article is that Huffington Post is not the money-maker it used to be. I have noticed this from my own browsing habits. I actively avoid Huffington Post if I want anything resembling unbiased or accurate news. More often these days, it seems like they are willing to regurgitate any old blog post or celebrity tweet as a news item. That type of content is a lot less valuable to me (and it seems to others as well) than original reporting and journalism - anything other than "what this celebrity posted to instagram".

sremani 12y ago
Because of the click-baity and rah rah rally the base type of political slant even on mundane of the news, made people to leave Huffington Post in droves.

LaSombra 12y ago

Funny thing: I got an offer from Aol last month.

rakeshsharmak 12y ago

Hopefully, Shingy will have one of his "brain farts" and things will get better at AOL.

libraryatnight 12y ago
He must not have solved for the missing human experience, yet.

phacks 12y ago

I just learned that AOL was still alive.