Internet, Job Cuts | featured news

Possibly trying to hide the grim news by announcing it during Apple’s event, we’ve just independently confirmed that Zynga has shut down its Boston office and laid off 2/3s of the employees in its Austin office, including cuts to The Ville and Bingo teams. We’ve now confirmed the initial report from Justin Maxwell. We’ve also just heard Zynga may have an all-hands meeting this afternoon.

Newsweek will end its print publication after 80 years and shift to an all-digital format in early 2013. Its last U.S. print edition will be its Dec. 31 issue. The paper version of Newsweek is the latest casualty of a changing world where readers get more of their information from websites, tablets and smartphones. It's also an environment in which advertisers are looking for less expensive alternatives online.

RealNetworks disclosed in an SEC filing this afternoon that the company today cut 80 positions, or about 7% of its worldwide employee base, as part of a previously announced plan to reduce operating expenses.

AOL will slash its workforce 20%, according to a person familiar with the matter, eliminating 950 jobs in the U.S. and India as it struggles to resurrect its business.

Internet media company Yahoo is preparing to cut as many as 650 jobs, or almost 5% of its workforce, in its latest move to streamline operations and cut costs.

About 2,500 jobs will be lost after AOL is spun off from Time Warner next month.

Internet giant Yahoo sees its third quarter profits more than treble - despite sales falling by about 12% - as it slashed costs.

Social networking site MySpace said Tuesday that it plans to slash nearly 30% of its workforce, leaving it with 1,000 employees.

Amazon.com is shutting distribution centers in three states, and will lay off or transfer to other nearby facilities about 210 employees.

AOL is backing out of mainland China – again. Other than a PR rep or two, the company fired all 100 or so of its employees in its Beijing office, according Chinese portal Netease.com. The Wall Street Journal says the AOL China site hasn't been updated since Tuesday. The cuts are a part of AOL's plan to slash 10% of its workforce worldwide.