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The Huffington Post launched its Canadian edition, its first international site, in May 2011, just two months after it was acquired by AOL for US$315 million. Huffington Post Canada opened its British Columbia bureau in fall 2012, alongside an Alberta bureau. It also maintains an Ottawa bureau and a French-language edition, Le Huffington Post Québec, based in Montreal.

The emergence of ad blockers and a precarious digital ad industry contributed to a fall in revenue growth at the Huffington Post to 15 per cent year-over-year in 2015, down significantly from 46 per cent in 2014. The publication has also seen its online traffic decrease significantly in the last year, in part because its content is more and more consumed on social media platforms like Facebook but also as emerging digital competitors BuzzFeed Inc. and Vice Media LLC have expanded their audiences.

The Huffington Post’s founder, American businesswoman and author Arianna Huffington, stepped down in September from her role as President and Editor-in-chief.

AOL CEO Tim Armstrong said the layoffs are being targeted in a way to allow the company to “re-grow” and expand into video and mobile content.

Verizon has already added 1,500 employees to AOL this year, after it purchased mobile ad marketplace Millennial Media and secured an ad deal with Microsoft Corp. to manage the software giant’s display, mobile and video advertising inventory in nine markets including Canada.

If Verizon completes its US$4.8 billion takeover offer for Yahoo Inc., it will likely add thousands more employees to its overall workforce.