Dot Com News from Week of January 2, 2001

• 1/7/01 - The New York Times online unit, nytimes.com, is laying off 70 employees due to lower than anticipated advertising revenue.

• 1/5/01 - eCal Corporation, a provider of Internet-based calendaring and communications services, announced a cost-cutting program to help achieve profitability. The program includes reducing the work force by 25% to 140 employees.

• 1/5/01 - Covad Business Solutions is planning to lay off about 400 workers which is approximately 50 percent of its workforce. The company offers digital subscriber line (DSL) technology to businesses.

• 1/5/01 - Advertising.com announced that it will reduce its workforce from 287 to 215 employees. The company, which provides software and services to target and manage online advertising campaigns, said that the layoffs are a "proactive step" that would allow the company to become profitable "much sooner than would otherwise be the case."

• 1/5/01 - Prospero Technologies Corp., has laid off most of its sales force and is restructuring to focus on its existing clients and larger corporate prospects. The company's services include providing the platforms and tools for message boards and chat rooms.

• 1/5/01 - Another round of layoffs was announced by MarchFirst, an Internet consulting company. In November, MarchFirst reduced its work force by aproximately 1,000 employees. The company currently employs 8,000 people worldwide.

• 1/5/01 - News Corp., owner of the Fox television networks in the United States, is shutting down its online division and eliminating more than 200 jobs in an effort to conserve badly needed cash. The Fox News Channel cable network will take over production of Foxnews.com, Fox Sports Television Group will take over Foxsports.com, and Fox Broadcasting Co. will run Fox.com.
• 1/5/01 - Just four months after its debut, Savvio.com, an online travel agency, is shutting down its business. A notice posted on the company's Web site says "We regret to announce the closing of Savvio's e-commerce web site. We would like to thank our customers and members for your support and interest over the past months."

• 1/4/01 - Jato Communications Corp., a provider of high-speed DSL service in Salt Lake City, Utah, shut down its operations suddenly leaving 130 clients without service. Most of the client were big business.

• 1/4/01 - CyberSource Corp., one of the Internet's most prominent processors of credit card transactions, will trim its staff by 20 percent, or about 90 jobs.

• 1/4/01 - Engage, CMGI-owned marketing software company, said that it would lay off half of its employees as part of a plan to accelerate profitability, which should now come by the fourth quarter of 2001. The company plans to reduce its work force by 550 employees, or about 50 percent.

• 1/4/01 - Again in the news, eToys let go 70 percent of its staff today and will shut down two of its four warehouses. Los Angeles-based eToys said it had 1,000 full-time employees as of last month.

• 1/4/01 - Job and career site Vault.com is sending some of its own staff to the unemployment line. The company is laying off about one-third of its staff in a cost-cutting measure. Vault employs about 100 people.

• 1/4/01 - Mercata Inc., an online retailer that promised lower prices through group buying, said it will cease operations at the end of the month. The company was 55 percent owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.

• 1/4/01 - Odetics Inc., a developer of software and hardware businesses, said it was reducing its workforce by about 25 percent. Seekingng to reduce operating expenses and negative cash flow, Odetics also said its restructuring will include the a shutdown of certain of its business activities.

• 1/3/01 - Hoag Levins, a veteran journalist who took over the editorial helm at APBnews.com, and Managing editor Ed Levine, have resigned. Safetytips, the company that bought the already-struggling APB on Sept. 7 for $575,000 with plans to resurrect the site, was not meeting its payroll obligations.

• 1/3/01 - Online music directory Listen.com laid off close to 25 percent of its employees today (42 employees) in order to reach profitability for sometime next year.

• 1/3/01 - Online toy seller eToys.com, said it was closing down its European operations. Operations in the United Kingdom will cease on Jan. 19, and eToys Europe will be closed early in 2001.

• 1/3/01 - Tumbleweed Communications Corp., a secure e-mail company, said it would miss estimates for its fourth quarter and would cut 20 percent of its work force or some 70 jobs, citing slumping IT spending and delayed purchasing decisions from customers.

• 1/3/01 - Musicmaker.com's Board of Directors unanimously voted to liquidate the company's assets. Musicmaker.com now has joined the more than 200 Internet companies that folded last year.

• 1/2/01 - Viador Inc., a provider of Internet products for businesses, said it is laying off 87 employees, or about 36 percent of its work force, as of Jan. 5 in a bid to speed to profitability.

• 1/2/01 - iAnalyst.com, who last summer came up with an idea to use the Internet's live-chat technology to connect investors with live research analysts, is unable to secure a second round of venture-capital funding for its idea and has quietly shut down its Web site.

• 1/2/01 - Commtouch Software Ltd., provider of integrated email and messaging solutions to service providers, enterprises, and wireless carriers around the world, said it was cutting 20 percent of its work force. Internal changes to reach profitability accounted for the staff reduction.