The 1,200 Microsoft sales staffers offered jobs at AOL are worried the roles won't be around for long

As part of the deal struck earlier this week between Microsoft and AOL that will see the former company hand its display advertising sales business over to the latter, AOL has said it will offer jobs to 1,200 employees in Microsoft's Advertising division.

But, according to AdExchanger, Microsoft employees are skeptical those jobs will be around for long because there will inevitably be a duplication of roles.

A mid-level employee at Microsoft told AdExchanger "I don't think they want all of us," adding: "It's hard to imagine that them with our bloated cost structure is any better than us with our bloated cost structure. They're not going to let everyone go, but they're going to have to let people go."

A person close to the company said: "AOL's not going to be able to keep 1,200 people. You don't need two sales forces. If you and I were both calling on AmEx, who's calling now?"

As AdExchanger notes, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong has instructed a number of layoffs in his time at the company. In 2010 the company cut 1,000 jobs, while 1,100 agreed to take voluntary redundancies. Then in 2014 it cut hundreds of jobs in its Patch local news business. And just this year, the company cut around 150 roles within its advertising sales teams, and consolidated some of its websites.

Business Insider has contacted AOL for a response and we'll updated this article once we hear back.

Just days after the Microsoft announcement, AOL already started dishing out offer letters. AdExchanger notes that some of the offers were "generous," including raises a little higher than the average Microsoft annual pay rise.

US employees have been given 10 days to consider their offers, and, if they accept, they will become AOL employees as of July 16, according to AdExchanger's sources.