The AO-Elevator. 20% Shafted.

AOL continues to plummet to the basement. Once a powerhouse on the internet until the advent of affordable broadband, the company continues to struggle to position itself in new markets. Meanwhile, all employees had to roll a 10-sided die. All that rolled a one or a two were ejected from the company.

From Reuters here:

Time Warner Inc’s Internet unit AOL will eliminate 2,000 jobs as part of an ongoing restructuring to better focus on boosting online advertising, according to a memo obtained by Reuters on Monday.

The cuts, which begin on Tuesday, amount to about one-fifth of AOL’s global work force and are spread across operations in the United States and in Europe, where the company has sold off its Internet access businesses.

AOL plans to boost investment in higher growth areas such as advertising and new international regions. AOL will launch in seven new countries this year and will operate in 30 countries by the end of 2008.

The surprise sparked another round of complaints from Wall Street analysts and investors demanding the split-off or sell-off of the unit. The company has said it has no plans to do so just yet.

Just last year they axed one quarter of the workforce.