Newly installed AOL President Bob Pittman is already on the slash-and-burn warpath, severely cutting back the company's research and development arms.

Pittman, recently dispatched to the AOL unit by AOL Time Warner boss Dick Parsons, wasted no time in identifying costly R&D as an area that has to go. Instead, he has ordered the troops to focus on the basics: increasing distribution of the AOL service and improving ad revenues, sources said.

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