Tim Armstrong, Chairman and CEO of AOL, talks at a media summit in New York Thursday. AOL said it will slash 900 jobs worldwide, or nearly 20 percent of its work force, partly to eliminate overlap that stems from its recent purchase of Huffington Post. Photo: Mark Lennihan/AP

It’s a bloodbath.

AOL, the beleaguered internet company, is cutting as many as 900 jobs, CEO Tim Armstrong announced Thursday, including as many as 200 editorial staffers in the United States. The layoffs, which were expected, are part of a companywide reorganization following AOL’s $315 million purchase of Huffington Post.

The layoffs include veteran journalists from AOL’s top news sites, including PoliticsDaily, DailyFinance (where this author worked before joining Wired.com three months ago) and WalletPop.

“There was no contact at all from whomever was making decisions,” said one AOL editorial insider who was let go. “Not a single person on our team was interviewed, and they didn’t even ask for resumes. It’s really a big mess.”

The layoffs include PoliticsDaily‘s editor-in-chief Melinda Henneberger, a veteran political journalist who spent 10 years at The New York Times, according to FishbowlDC.

“I have just laid off dozens of the most talented journalists & product folks I know,” Jonathan Dube, AOL’s senior vice president of news, tweeted around noon. “Need talent? Let me know!”

Even for those who remain, the future is uncertain. “Everything I support appears to be disappearing,” said one AOL tech staffer who survived the cuts. “They gutted the place.”

In addition to the 200 stateside job cuts, 700 workers in India are being let go.

“Making the decision to reduce staff levels is a necessary part of rebalancing our workforce to be competitive in our industry,” Armstrong said in a memo to staffers. “Affected employees will be notified today, and AOL will offer assistance programs — including workspace, counseling and technology.”

As usual, Armstrong and Huffington are waxing on about investing in high-quality, original content produced by actual journalists. But AOL staffers have heard that one before, so the renewed pledge comes across as a little hollow, especially given that dozens of veteran journalists are being let go.

It’s very difficult for Huffington to argue credibly that she plans to invest in original journalism at the very same time that she and Armstrong are giving dozens of veteran reporters the old heave-ho. Despite a few high-profile hires and her stable of well-publicized celebrity bloggers, HuffPo has always been focused on aggregation and voluminous content from unpaid writers.

As New York Times executive editor Bill Keller pungently observed: “Buying an aggregator and calling it a content play is a little like a company’s announcing plans to improve its cash position by hiring a counterfeiter.”

Investors frequently like layoffs, because they can reduce costs and today’s AOL news was greeted favorably. But it’s also a truism that you can’t cut your way to growth, so what AOL makes of the HuffPo merger is what matters. Ben Schachter, an analyst at Macquarie Securities, said Thursday that he is reiterating his neutral rating on AOL shares and taking a wait-and-see approach as the company continues its turn-around efforts.

“We are positive on initiatives such as Project Devil [new advertising platform] and intrigued by aggressive moves such as the acquisition of HuffPo but given headwinds around its declining access business, weakening brand and potential further disruption from the shift to mobile, we prefer to wait on sidelines for further proof of execution,” Schachter wrote in a note to clients.

AOL shares have lost nearly 30 percent of their value in the last four months.

Here’s Armstrong’s memo:

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