AOL Tuesday revealed it is significantly reducing its software development operations in California by closing its offices in San Francisco and San Diego and eliminating 375 positions at its Mountain View campus.

A total of 450 California positions will be eliminated as part of the company's ongoing efforts to manage costs, said AOL spokesman Jim Whitney. About 100 of the employees will be offered the opportunity to relocate to AOL's Dulles, Va., facilities, he said.

AOL employed 825 staff in California prior to Tuesday's cuts, meaning it has reduced its workforce in the state by more than half. The layoffs amount to about 2% of AOL's total work force of 19,000.

"These are principally developers who work on features and applications for the AOL service, " Whitney said. "What we're doing is actually moving some of our projects into teams in other facilities."

AOL will continue to maintain California offices in Irvine, which will have a staff of 75, and Mountain View, which will now house 300 employees.

The company has not yet decided which of its development projects will be terminated as a result of the layoffs, Whitney said. Developers in California work on AOL's music development, AOL by Phone, and AOL Communicator software, he said.

In July, AOL laid off 50 Mountain View-based developers of its Netscape browser. The company's Mountain View campus was formerly the headquarters of Netscape Communications, which AOL acquired in 1998.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.