You’ve Got (Bad) Mail

Between this news and Yahoo’s dismal returns, the doom and gloom is adding up today on the Internet. Time Warner said its AOL unit would lay off 700 people, or 10 percent of its work force, as a result of the recession. (It’s probably a bad sign when layoffs can be measured in double digit percentiles.) Online advertising has been an unfortunate casualty of the current economic climate, and AOL will try to reboot itself with a focus on three core areas: advertising, publishing/websites, and social networks. CEO Randy Falco struck a hopeful note in a staff memo, saying the unit is “two years into a three-year turnaround plan.”