AOL’s Local News Sites To Lay Off Up To 500

NEW YORK — AOL Inc. 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 with 350 people getting pink slips. In all, the layoffs amount to about 9 percent of AOL’s total workforce of 5,500.

AOL Inc. CEO Tim Armstrong co-founded Patch, an ambitious experiment in local news meant to compete with newspapers, in 2007. AOL bought it in 2009 after Tim Armstrong had taken over the helm of the New York-based Internet company.

Read more:  http://www.timesleader.com/news/business/759140/AOLs-local-news-sites-to-lay-off-up-to-500

AOL To Sell 800 Patents To Microsoft For $1 Billion

The second logo for AOL, used from 2006–2009 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

(Reuters) – AOL Inc said it would sell over 800 of its patents and related applications to Microsoft Corp , and would grant Microsoft a non-exclusive license to the patents it retains, for slightly over $1 billion in cash.

AOL’s shares jumped 37 percent to $25.16 in trading before the bell on Monday. They closed at $18.42 on Friday on the New York Stock Exchange.

The Internet company said it plans to return a “significant portion of the sale proceeds” to shareholders.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/business/sns-rt-us-aol-microsoftbre83809x-20120409,0,3464198.story

What Companies Are The Worst And The Best For Customer Service?

According to an MSN Money-Zogby International customer service survey, these companies made their 2010 Wall of Shame:

1. AOL

2. Bank of America

3. Comcast

4. Sprint Nextel

5. Capital One

6. Dish Network

7. Time Warner Cable

8. Wells Fargo

9. Citibank

10. HSBC

Interesting that this list consists primarily of banks/credit card companies and cable tv/phone/internet service providers…hmmmm.

2010 Wall of Fame recipients are:

1. Amazon

2. Trader Joe’s

3. Netflix

4. Apple

5. FedEx

6. Publix

7. Southwest Airlines

8. UPS

9. Nordstrom

10. Marriott

Interesting who did and didn’t make the top 10 here.  I was surprised I didn’t see Target or Kohl’s for starters.

To view the complete list of all 150 companies and their scores, click on the link below and scroll about half way down the page to find the list:

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/see-the-full-list-of-company-rankings-2010.aspx