AOL takes a hit in DC

Last year the local AOL community, which has been such a large cornerstone of the technology companies on the Dulles Corridor, took a hit when the company announced it was moving their headquarters to New York.  It was a pretty huge blow to the local area in may ways.  But things seemed to settle out.

This week however, the local AOL’ers got some more bad news.  According to this article in the Washington Post, AOL announced the following:

AOL is slashing more products — including some that had been promoted as on the cutting edge of the company’s future — as part of its effort to cut costs and focus resources on what is working for the beleaguered Internet giant.

AOL said they are canceling several products in a cost saving move.  On the cut list are Bluestring, AOL Pictures, and Xdrive. Apparently these products have not gained enough momentum in the marketplace and pressure form Time Warner, AOL’s parent company, to cut costs have played a role in the moves.

Last year we had a post about the move to NY and it’a impact on the local area.  While it was true that the most visible of the losses were jobs form the local tech sector, another big hit was the local arts and other charities that AOL donated heavily to.

On a side note however, I have seen many many ex AOL’ers involved in the local startup community and contributing to the cool atmosphere growing here in DC.  The Loladex guys, Laurence and Dan both came from AOL.  And I also believe that the founders of Summize, who just recently got bought by Twitter were also former AOL employees.  So while these cuts are bad for what one may call “the old internet” they can and most times do move on to help the “new social media” and startup communities here in DC.