America Online Inc is on the verge of a reorganization that would consolidate its activities and management, according to a report in The New York Times. The Dulles, Virginia online service is apparently on the verge of dissolving its AOL Studios unit and folding all of its activities back into the main AOL Networks unit. The move would consolidate the power of Robert Pittman, currently AOL Networks president, who’d see substantially all of the company’s business activities fall into his domain. It is unclear what effect the shift would have on AOL Studios chief Ted Leonsis, who would report to Pittman instead of directly to chief executive Steve Case. It’s assumed that he would still be responsible for developing new content for AOL and the recently- acquired CompuServe business. News of the planned move comes only a year and a half after AOL set up the unit to develop online content and web sites and only weeks after AOL was in discussions with Bertelsmann AG and others to sell a controlling interest in the unit.
