AOL might be laying off hundreds of employees in India but at the same time, the American Internet major is on a hiring spree in its home country and a few other overseas markets.

AOL, which has been grappling with intense competition and sluggish business prospects, is trimming its work force as part of restructuring efforts to rejuvenate itself.

The Internet entity will be slashing more than 400 jobs in India. Interestingly, AOL is actively hiring in the US, the UK and Ireland.

According to its website, the company posted over 200 job openings in March alone. The openings are mostly in the US and there are also vacancies for operations in the UK and Ireland, among others.

The firm is hiring people for various segments, including corporate services, advertising, consumer applications and media/content.

“As a company, there are about 200 (job cuts) in the US and about 700 in India, although about 300 of those are going to go an outsourcer. So effectively, it’s about 400 to 600 (job cuts) between India and the US,” Mr Tim Armstrong, CEO, AOL said in a recent television interview.

Going by estimates, AOL has about 1,000 employees in India and will be reducing the strength by around 50 per cent.

“AOL will, however, retain those people who are involved in servicing the Japanese operations from India, running of mobile service Coolage and in the marketing team,” a source said last week.

The firm’s India portal offers e-mail, instant messaging, news, sports, entertainment and a host of other information and content.

Globally, AOL has nearly 5,000 employees, including those from recently acquired news portal Huffington Post.

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