Platform-A Cuts 17 Jobs to Support Field Sales

Platform-A let 17 people go yesterday as part of a structural change designed to help revitalize its field sales efforts. The staffers all held sales support positions that have been eliminated, according to an AOL source.

The move was planned with the goal of putting more feet in the street, this source said. However Platform-A has not created new positions elsewhere in the organization to make up for the cuts, and it’s unclear how any cost savings generated by the layoffs might support those feet. Platform-A currently has about two open positions in sales, not related to the people who were let go.

Contrary to an earlier report on the layoffs, the company does not plan to fill nine vacancies with new recruits from Google. Rather the dismissals were part of a process begun by departed Platform-A chief Greg Coleman, who was recently replaced by Jeff Levick. Levick collaborated closely with new AOL boss Tim Armstrong when the two worked together at Google.