AOL cutting underperforming properties

AOL is cutting back some blogs and closing down its Bluestring, Xdrive and AOL Pictures properties. Some people are speculating the division is trying to pretty itself up for a sale, but I think it's going to take a lot more than that to prep AOL. This sounds more like all-around trimming of underperforming sites in an economy that no longer allows those indulgences.

Shares of AOL parent Time Warner are up 1% today to $14.63. Time Warner has reportedly been trying to shop AOL to the likes of Microsoft and Yahoo, but so far no one is biting.

AOL exec Kevin Conroy seems to lay it out straight in an email about the changes, which was posted at TechCrunch.

"There was a time at AOL when the strengths of our aggregate portfolio of products more than compensated for the weakness of an underperforming product," Conroy wrote. "The realities of the industry and market shifts in online advertising no longer make that possible. Simply put, every product makes a direct impact on our bottom line."

So AOL can't afford to subsidize its less-popular products. Makes sense. Keep in mind that AOL has rolled out a number of new properties this year as well, including WalletPop and Pixcetera, so a little house-cleaning may be in order.

Related reading:

AOL shopping itself to Yahoo, Microsoft

Time Warner separating AOL's dialup business

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