America Online and Netscape confirmed Wednesday that 850 jobs had been cut as a result of AOL's buyout of the browser company.
About 425 people were fired from each company, said Jim Whitney, spokesman for AOL.
"These things are never easy," said Whitney. "When you put two big companies together, certainly [there will] be some overlapping positions and responsibilities."
Last week, AOL said it would cut up to 1,000 of its employees as a part of its restructuring following its US$9 billion acquisition of Netscape Communications, which was completed earlier this month.
See also: AOL Eats Netscape- - - - - -
AOL said it would split its operations into four units: The interactive service group will run its AOL and CompuServe online services; the interactive properties group will manage the likes of Moviefone and ICQ; the Netscape enterprise group will make corporate software; and an international unit will run AOL's operations overseas.
AOL will take a financial charge in the third quarter for the layoffs.
A source at Netscape said AOL will centralize some operations. "Anything that could be easily centralized is gone today," said the source.
Fired employees were given three months' pay, health insurance coverage, and outplacement counseling by the firm Drake, Beam, Morin.
