Dot Com News from Week of February 18, 2002

• 2/24/02 - Continuing a shakeout in the telecommunications industry, upstart Mpower Holding Corp., a competitive local-exchange carrier that provides telephone and Internet services to small and midsize businesses, has struck a deal with bondholders to reorganize through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
• 2/21/02 - Net2Phone plans to cut 110 jobs, or 28% of its work force, as part of a plan to align its businesses and become profitable.
• 2/21/02 - Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. announced a significantly worsened forecast for the year ending March 31, underlining an alarming slide at the Japanese consumer-electronics powerhouse that sells its products world-wide under the Panasonic and National brand names, among others. Matsushita confirmed that it will cut 13,000 jobs through early retirement.
• 2/19/02 - AltaVista said that it will discontinue its free Web e-mail service, the latest online amenity to get axed as a result of cost-cutting measures. The Internet search company notified its 400,000 subscribers by e-mail that it would close the service as of March 31. The company does not plan to forward e-mail or provide access to archives after that time.
• 2/19/02 - AT&T Broadband announced plans to cut about 500 jobs as it reduces staffing at its corporate headquarters. Workers were made aware of the cuts, which affect about 12% of the staff at its Colorado headquarters, through an e-mail issued by the company's new chief executive officer, Bill Schleyer, who took the post in October.
• 2/19/02 - Jupiter Media Metrix Inc. and NetRatings Inc. called off their planned merger, citing regulatory hurdles. Following the failure of the deal, the companies are shifting gears. NetRatings plans to discontinue two products, AdSpectrum and eCommercePulse, and eliminate 20 positions, or about 15% of its work force. Jupiter Media Metrix said it will continue to pursue its patent-infringement lawsuit against NetRatings, set for an Oct. 28, 2002 trial date.