Today everyone seems to be talking about the announcement AOL made last night and by now every accountant, stock analyst and media guru has crawled out of the woodwork and weighed in on the effects of
AOL Time Warner taking a charge of $40 to $60 billion in the first quarter to reflect the costs of its merger last year.
Of course, AOL generates about a quarter of its revenue from advertising,
which makes the news significant for this newsletter, but the consensus seems to be that the move will not mean much for the overall health of the company.
Still, AOL said that it expected no
economic recovery this year and downgraded its expectations of 2002 growth to 8-12%, down from the 15% analysts had expected in September.
All of the above will most likely impact the online ad
industry in some negative way, but I don't want to leave off on a bad note. I do have slightly better news than that, though not directly related.
TMP Worldwide, the parent company of
Monster.com, today released results from a new survey of human resource executives in the New York tri-state area showing that many companies are still actively hiring.
The majority of companies
polled (76%) said they are still actively recruiting for permanent staff despite the current economic situation and the events of September 11.
The survey also found that among the companies
currently recruiting, 58% are filling new and replacement positions, and the top three areas where they are seeking to fill positions are senior management (45%), information technology (35%) and
sales (33%). Of those companies not currently recruiting, the majority reported that they expect to begin recruiting again within the next six months.
Looks like things may be picking up, of only
a little.