LoudounExtra.com
County Still Counting on Presence of AOL
By Arianne Aryanpur, Kendra Marr
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Loudoun officials said this week that although they regret AOL’s decision to move its corporate headquarters from Dulles to New York, they remain optimistic the company will maintain a strong presence in the county.
“We regret that they’ve chosen to move, but we understand why,” said Dorri O’Brien Morin, spokeswoman for the Loudoun County Department of Economic Development.
On Monday, AOL announced it was moving its senior executives to new corporate headquarters in Manhattan to be closer to the advertising industry as part of a restructuring. AOL employs about 4,000 people at its Dulles campus, most of whom will remain, the announcement said.
A Loudoun official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said she was told by AOL executives that the move will affect fewer than 100 people. Calls to AOL seeking exact numbers were not returned Tuesday.
INTERNET ENHANCED
Related Stories
Archived Stories
AOL history
Your Take
News Release
Blog
Company Profile
Chat Transcript
“There are those Chicken Littles that say the sky is falling, but the bottom line is we’re still home to AOL,” Morin said. “There will still be 4,000 people working. There will still be a lot of brain power coming to that campus.”
Bobbie Kilberg, chief executive of the Northern Virginia Technology Council, a membership and trade association for the technology industry, said the long-term effects of the headquarters move could be more pronounced.
“When you take the leadership of a company and move it to another city, logic tells you that over time there will be a diminution of the jobs that are left there, either because more functions over time will switch to the new headquarters or employees will leave for other opportunities. That’s basic Business 101,” Kilberg said.
Although local officials and business analysts said the move will not affect the area’s economy, they agreed that symbolically it will hurt Loudoun’s image as a high-tech center. Information sector jobs account for about 7 percent of the county’s workforce, according to the economic development department.
“It’s a psychological hit because if for no other reason, AOL was one of the companies that put Northern Virginia on the map as a global technology center,” Kilberg said.
According to 2006 data from the Economic Development Department, AOL is the county’s largest private employer, followed by Verizon Business and M.C. Dean.
Robyn Bailey, manager of business infrastructure for Loudoun County, said that if AOL left Dulles, it could easily rent individual office buildings to different companies. The campus has several freestanding buildings connected by sprawling, manicured fields and metal bridges.
Tony Howard, president and chief executive of the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce, said he doubts AOL would ever contemplate leaving Dulles altogether. AOL executives are well aware that technology workers want to live in Northern Virginia and that attempts to relocate them in large numbers would backfire, Howard said.
“Workers really dictate where the jobs are . . . and this is where the talented, ambitious workers are located,” he said.
Stephen S. Fuller, director of the George Mason University School of Public Policy’s Center for Regional Analysis, agreed.
“Some of the [AOL] workers out there who do see this as a threat will leave and start their own business,” he said.
Fuller said he didn’t think the move would affect Loudoun’s ability to lure high-tech businesses.
“I think companies will continue to come to Loudoun County. We have the best educated workforce in the country. We have a low unemployment rate. We have a high-quality living environment and a good transportation system,” Fuller said.
Business owners along Route 625 near the Dulles campus said they didn’t expect to be immediately affected by the move.
Photo Gallery
America Online
Larger Version
Outside of AOL's Dulles office in 2004. (FILE PHOTO) (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Larger Version
In April 2007, AOL President and Chief Operating Officer Ron Grant addressed the media in Bangalore, India. (FILE PHOTO) (Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP/Getty Images)
Larger Version
AOL Chairman and CEO Randy Falco speaks during the Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit in New York on May 16, 2007. (FILE PHOTO) (Keith Bedford/Reuters)
Larger Version
AOL Chairman and CEO Jonathan Miller along with AOL Vice Chairman Ted Leonsis -- who is the majority owner of the Washington Capitals, Washington Mystics and minority owner of the Wizards -- met with The Washington Post to discuss AOL's new business model in 2006. (FILE PHOTO) (Leslie Walker/Washington Post)
Larger Version
An employee walks through one of the doors inside the lobby of AOL headquarters in November 2004. (FILE PHOTO) (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Larger Version
This 2006 photo shows the annual company volunteer day at AOL headquarters in Dulles. AOL employees packaged more than 2,000 bags for The Red Cross, Loudoun Family Services, Loudoun Literacy Council, and Emmaus Services for the Aging in D. C. (FILE PHOTO) (Tracy A. Woodward)
Larger Version
YouthAIDS Global Ambassador Ashley Judd spoke to more than 300 America Online employees at the company's headquarters in 2005 to promote HIV/AIDS education and prevention. (FILE PHOTO) (Tim Nguyen/AOL)
Larger Version
AOL and Advertising.com executives gather at AOL headquarters in 2004 to talk to the media. The companies announced that AOL had agreed to pay $435 million to acquire Advertising.com, a provider of interactive marketing services. In photo, left to right: Advertising.com CEO Scott Ferber; Advertising.com Chief Product Officer John Ferber; AOL Vice Chairman Ted Leonsis; AOL Chairman and CEO Jonathan Miller. (FILE PHOTO) (Rick Kozack for AOL)
Larger Version
The photo for this illustration was taken in New York in 2006. Here, a collection of compact disks containing promotional software for AOL's Internet service is shown. (FILE PHOTO) (Mark Lennihan/Associated Press)
Larger Version
In 2003, then-Virginia Gov. Mark Warner speaks during gathering at AOL headquarters in Dulles prior to the ceremonial signing of an anti-spam bill. Shown listening to Warner is, from left: AOL executive Ted Leonsis; president of the Northern Virginia Technology Council, Bobbie Kilberg; Virginia Attorney General Jerry Kilgore and Virginia State Rep. Jeannemarie Devolites. (FILE PHOTO) (Rich Lipski)
Larger Version
This 2002 photo shows the outside of AOL headquarters in Dulles. (FILE PHOTO) (Kenneth Lambert/Associated Press)
Larger Version
In this Dec. 11, 2001 photo, Robert Pittman, chief operating officer of AOL Time Warner, presents his keynote address to Internet World Fall 2001 at New York's Javits Convention Center. (FILE PHOTO) (Richard Drew/Associated Press)
Larger Version
This photo taken Feb. 29, 2000, shows AOL Chairman and CEO Stephen Case, left, and Time Warner Chairman and CEO Gerald Levin as they prepare to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington, D.C. about the merger of AOL and Time Warner. (FILE PHOTO) (Mario Tama/AFP)
Larger Version
AOL CEO Gerald Levin is shown speaking before the House Commerce Telecommunications Subcommittee in Washington in this September 27, 2000 photo. (FILE PHOTO) (Brendan Mcdermid/Reuters)
Larger Version
In this 2000 photo, Steve Case, left, Chairman and CEO of America Online, hugs Gerald Levin, Chairman and CEO of Time Warner, following a press conference in New York during which the two companies announced that AOL would buy Time Warner for about $163 billion in stock. At the time, the merger was considered to be the biggest business deal in history. (FILE PHOTO) (Mike Segar/Reuters)
Larger Version
This 1999 photo shows James V. Kimsey, founding CEO and Chairman Emeritus of America Online. (FILE PHOTO) (Philip Bermingham Photography)
Larger Version
In this March 13, 1995 photo, Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, left, and America Online CEO Steve Case address the Microsoft Professional Conference for the Internet. (FILE PHOTO) (Lou Dematteis/Reuters)
Larger Version
Signs inside the lobby of AOL's Dulles headquarters are seen in this 2004 photo. (FILE PHOTO) (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Larger Version
The lobby inside AOL's headquarters is seen in Dulles. The firm, which is owned by media giant Time Warner, has seen its number of subscribers shrink in recent years amid fierce competition. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
View all thumbnails
Papa John’s assistant manager Justin Crum said his pizzeria receives about five orders a week, some quite large, from AOL. With the business he gets from Dulles International Airport, Oracle and other technology companies, he isn’t worried.
“There’s so many businesses around this area it won’t impact our business too bad,” Crum said.
Nirajan Sigoun, manager of Moe’s Southwest Grill, agreed. “It won’t be the end of us,” said Sigoun, who serves a few AOL employees at lunch each day.
David Sun, manager of the In & Out Market, a nearby convenience store, wondered whether it would be the beginning of bigger changes and more employee relocation.
“I would like them to stay,” Sun said.
Copyright 2009 The Washington Post Company
