Dot Com News from Week of February 4, 2002

• 2/8/02 - A sales slump pushed Philips Electronics NV into its worst annual loss in a decade -- and threw more gloom on a battered technology sector. The company slashed 18,000 jobs, about 10% of its work force, in 2001 and plans to make 3,000 job cuts this year.
• 2/8/02 - Trading in Internet-only credit card company NextCard was halted Friday, a day after government regulators shut down the bank that it operated. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said in a statement that it closed down the bank after discovering it "was operating in an unsafe and unsound manner."
• 2/7/02 - Tyco is laying off 1,000 people, or 44% of the work force, at its TyCom telecommunications unit. The firm said the cuts are related to weakness in the sector and not the company's broader woes.
• 2/5/02 - Homestore.comsaid it will reduce its work force by 300 positions in the first quarter and announced a new management structure, as the company attempts to recover from an accounting scandal.
• 2/5/02 - Network Plus Corp., announced that it, along with its operating subsidiary, has filed a voluntary petition with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware for reorganization under Chapter 11. Network Plus is a network-based integrated communications provider that offers telecommunications and broadband data services, primarily to small and medium-sized business customers located in major markets in the Northeastern and Southeastern regions of the United States.
• 2/5/02 - Ciena warned of weak sales and a loss. The optical-switch maker blamed telephone carriers' spending cuts and delays, and said it plans to cut 400 jobs.