AOL to Cut 1,300 Jobs in Member Service

NEW YORK — AOL said Tuesday that it had done such a good job of helping its customers help themselves that it would cut about 1,300 customer service jobs and close its Jacksonville, Fla., call center.

The layoffs, many coming from service centers in Ogden, Utah, and Tucson, amount to about 7% of AOL’s global workforce of about 20,000. It’s the largest staff reduction since the Time Warner Inc. Internet unit cut about 700 positions last fall.

“There is never an easy time to do this,” AOL spokesman Nicholas Graham said. “But the steps we take today will help ensure that AOL meets the needs of our members, meets our strategic corporate goals and sustains the growth of our business.”

AOL’s overseas offices aren’t mentioned in Tuesday’s announcement, although Graham acknowledged that call centers abroad and in the U.S. would have to handle more duties.

AOL’s subscription base has been declining as more Internet users have dropped dial-up connections in favor of broadband. The company had 18.6 million U.S. subscribers as of March 31, down from a peak of 26.7 million in September 2002.

But while U.S. subscribers dropped by about 22% in the last two years, inquiries to AOL’s customer service representatives declined even more, by 50%.

“The Internet world of 2006 is very different from the world of 1996, when AOL first established these member centers,” Graham said. “Today, AOL members are more savvy and sophisticated online. They are very different members today than they were in 1996.”

AOL dropped some of its hand-holding over the years and began offering its subscribers computer-diagnosis, anti-spyware and other free software, “allowing them to troubleshoot on their own,” Graham said.

In addition, he said, AOL has been expanding its online help areas, such that 8 million customers a month now look up information themselves online, compared with 5.5 million who interact with a human by phone, e-mail or online chat.

Shares in Time Warner were unchanged Tuesday at $17.05.