Once More, AOL Retreats From Mainland China











AOL confirmed Internet reports that it has closed its China offices, though a spokeswoman for the Time Warner (TWX)-owned company declined to give further details.

According to one of the reports, from Chinese language new portal Netease.com, some 100 employees in its Beijing office received layoff notices via email this morning.

While the AOL China Web site is still up, it hasn't been updated since Tuesday.

Quoting people within the company, several Chinese Web sites said AOL will keep two or three employees in Beijing to deal with public relations. Phone calls to the office, located in the technology enclave of Tsinghua Science Park, weren't answered. A poster on the front gate listed phone numbers for an outside public relations firm.

The reports say the closing won't affect the AOL Chinese language Web sites run in Hong Kong and Taiwan districts. They also cite the global financial crisis for AOL's retreat. It has already announced a plan to lay off 700 employees world-wide, accounting for 10% of its staff, due to a drop in ad revenue. One former AOL China employee added that another reason might have been high operating costs and low returns in its China business.

In 2001, AOL set up a joint venture with computer maker Lenovo (LNVGY) and invested $100 million in establishing its Chinese-language Web portal, FM365.com. The joint venture was shut down in 2004. AOL returned to the Chinese market in April 2008 with a new homepage.

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代华纳公司(Time Warner)旗下的美国在线(AOL)证实了互联网上有关其中国公司已解散的消息，但该公司发言人拒绝透露更多详情。

根据中文新闻网站网易(Netease.com)的报导，AOL中国公司的约100名员工周四上午收到了遣散邮件。



Imaginechina via AP

AOL中文网站



AOL中文网站仍然在线，但自周二以后就没有更新。

几家中文网站援引AOL内部人士的话报导称，AOL将在北京保留2至3名员工负责外联工作。该公司位于清华科技园的办公室电话无人接听。办公室门口张贴了一家外部公关公司的号码。

报导称，关闭中国公司不会影响AOL在台湾和香港地区的中文网站经营。报导中还将全球金融危机列为AOL裁撤中国公司的理由。由于广告收入下降，AOL已经宣布了在全球裁员700人的计划，这个数字占其员工总数的10%。AOL的一名前中国员工补充说，另一个原因可能是中国业务运营成本高昂而回报很低。

2001年，AOL与电脑生产商联想(Lenovo)建立合资公司，投资1亿美元建立了中文网站FM365.com。2004年这家合资公司被关闭。2008年4月，AOL携新主页回归中国市场。

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