The majority of the 20-stronghold Bebo team in the UK are currently under a 30-day consultation, which is believed to include the four members of the Bebo sales team. The decision has not been made whether all four will keep their positions when they move across to AOL, although they will continue to work on the Bebo brand.
The restructure at Bebo is being dealt with by head of global operations Stephane Panier, who was appointed to the position in July. He replaced chief executive Joanna Shields who left in May.
The decision to merge Bebo's sales team with AOL's is a part of the company's plans to have a tighter integration across the company in the UK, AOL chief executive Tim Armstrong told Media Week exclusively in September.
In an exclusive interview, Armstrong said with Panier based in San Francisco, AOL was in discussions about how to handle Bebo's UK operation. He said: "Bebo's programme and ad sales team will have a tighter integration in the UK."
The global cutbacks are taking place across the UK, US and Australia. A spokesman for Bebo said: "The layoffs are part of the company's plans to transform the business and are part of a refocus to make sure the site is properly aligned with parent company AOL."
Bebo is available in the US, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Poland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, India and the Netherlands.
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