America Online Inc, having surveyed its newly-completed acquisition, CompuServe Corp, has decide to shake things up a bit. It is axing 500 positions at the Columbus, Ohio unit, offering employees between six months and a year’s salary in severance pay. It’s all part of AOL’s overall reorganization since the close of the CompuServe deal (see separate story today). Development of CompuServe’s web-based content-only service called ‘C’ has been scrapped – it was only announced in October – and all the work done so far will be poured into a fast-track development of version 5.0 of the CompuServe software. And the company is also looking to do something with Sprynet, its internet access only service. It would make a lot of sense to sell the service and its subscriber base to a dedicated internet service provider. AOL says it is looking at all possible strategic alternatives for this valuable asset. The company said the emphasis is on returning the US part of the service to profitability and it doesn’t look as if markets elsewhere are going to sustain AOL’s interest as far as CompuServe is concerned.
