AOL cuts 700, including Weblogs Inc lifestyle blogs

AOL will fire 700 employees according to a memo sent to all staff by CEO Randy Falco today.

Included in the cuts is a freeze on “merit” pay rises for 2009.

Among the cuts is also said to be the Weblogs Inc lifestyle blogs, according to a report from ReadWriteWeb.

Sites to go include Aisle Dash, Gadling, Green Daily, Luxist, ParentDish, Slashfood, DIY Life, StyleList and That’s Fit. The RWW report suggests that the sites might be relaunched later as magazine style sites.

The move to cut more Weblogs Inc sites comes despite promises from the company that previous cuts were the final ones, and that the network was thriving, and expanding. I guess like most things coming from AOL, a pinch of salt is always required. While many of the writers will pick up new gigs, what I’ve been hearing from many in the market at the moment is reasonable paying blogging jobs are drying up, and a flood of newly qualified writers may actually push writing pay rates further down as more scramble for less.

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