AOL plans to cut 108 jobs connected to its Reston, Virginia office at 11955 Democracy Drive, according to a notice filed Feb. 17 under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act.
What we know
- 94 employees will be laid off on March 1
- 14 employees will be laid off on May 31
- No bumping rights
- No union representation
- Roles affected were not disclosed
The Reston location is listed on AOL’s website as handling billing operations and services.
Ownership shift likely a factor
The layoffs come shortly after Italian tech company Bending Spoons completed its acquisition of AOL from Apollo Global Management.
The deal, valued at approximately $1.5 billion, closed on January 2.
CEO Luca Ferrari previously described AOL as an “iconic” business with untapped potential. Following the layoffs announcement, company spokesperson Camilla Bettinelli said affected employees were offered separation packages exceeding industry standards.
She also noted that simplifying organizational structures has helped Bending Spoons streamline product development in other acquisitions, including Evernote, Meetup, and WeTransfer.
Translation: leaner team, faster execution.
A brief look back
Founded in the 1980s in Tysons by Steve Case (originally as Quantum Computer), AOL became one of the defining internet brands of the 1990s — famous for its CD mailers and the unmistakable “You’ve got mail!” greeting.
Major milestones include:
- 2001 merger with Time Warner
- 2015 acquisition by Verizon for $4.4 billion
- 2021 purchase by Apollo (along with Yahoo) for $5 billion
Now under Bending Spoons, AOL is entering another restructuring phase — one that signals operational tightening rather than expansion.
For employees in Reston, though, the shift is immediate and personal. For the company, it’s another chapter in a long reinvention story.
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