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Wednesday Hale Global made up it’s mind on who would remain with the new company formerly know as AOL’s “PATCH” (new name TBD).
In less than a minute-and-a-half all remaining Patch employees that were slated to go were terminated. To listen to the call from Jim Romenesko click below.
Most of the journalists from Patch’s 900 hyper-local sites were terminated, along with many of Patch’s corporate employees. It was widely reported that Patch layoffs were imminent.
According to Fox Business News, “AOL tried to sell Patch to a media buyer and had deal conversations with Gannett and Tribune. Negotiations stalled and Armstrong was eager to find a solution for Patch, after promising that a partnership would be finalized by the end of 2013. The terms of the Hale deal were not disclosed, but one person with direct knowledge of the transaction says that AOL did not come close to recouping its investment in Patch and the terms would be an “embarrassment” to the company.”
Matt Burns of TechCrunch an AOL owned media outlet stated, “The ax came down at Patch today. TechCrunch has confirmed that a number of Patch employees were let go this morning with another round of layoffs happening later today. We’re hearing hundreds were laid off, focused mainly around editorial staffing. Employees are being told to pack their virtual desks and clear the premises today.”
According to Burns of TechCrunch, “AOL sold a majority stake in it’s hyper-local news outlet to Hale Global on January 15th. AOL retained a minority stake.
Patch had long been a sore spot on AOL balance sheet. The outlet failed to become profitable after AOL acquired it in 2009. Patch is estimated to have cost the company between $200 million and $300 million.
At this point it is no longer the Patch by AOL.
Pam Robinson who was the Editor for the Huntington Patch now works for the office of Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone.
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