Dot Com News from Week of July 23, 2001

• 7/28/01 - Amtrak will offer early retirement and voluntary separation incentives to its 2,900 managers, part of a cost-cutting effort to improve the passenger railroad's finances before a congressional deadline. All management employees - those not covered by union contracts - are eligible for the offers. Details will be presented to employees next week as part of a corporate restructuring that could save the company as much as $85 million in 2002.
• 7/27/01 - Wireless service provider OmniSky Corp. said that it laid off 100 workers as part of a reorganization. The San Francisco-based company said the cuts were concentrated in Europe, where it closed several offices.
• 7/27/01 - Adaptive Broadband Corporation announced that it has filed a voluntary petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. In addition, the Company announced that Nasdaq had reviewed and upheld its decision to delist the Company's securities from the Nasdaq Stock Market, which was effective on May 22, 2001. The Company also announced the resignations of four of its five directors.
• 7/27/01 - Veeco Instruments Inc. announced it had hacked off 130 employees from payroll or about 8% of the total workforce due to a reduction in orders -- particularly in optical telecommunications. The company manufacturers process equipment and electronic measuring instruments for optical telecommunications, data storage, semiconductor and research markets.
• 7/27/01 - Exodus Communications Inc. plans to lay off 14% of its staff not 50% as was previously reported. This move will eliminate approximately 500 positions.
• 7/27/01 - Second-quarter losses due to difficult industry conditions are to blame according to AT&T Canada, Inc. which cut 500 jobs. Revenues were up however by $.2 million (Canadian dollars) from last year. The company provides long-distance, local and Internet services in Canada.
• 7/27/01 - Video game publisher Interplay, confirmed laying off between 55 and 65 employees this week and its shares rose 6% by this afternoon. A spokesman from the company acknowledged the cuts but did not say how many total employees were remaining. A year ago, shares were 41% higher than now.
• 7/26/01 - Posted on the Zcast.tv streaming news Web site: We regret to inform you that ZCast.tv is closing shop. As some of you know, the business model for streaming media remains murky. A robust technology economy could sustain projects such as ZCast.tv while the financial answers became more apparent. However, the sour economy for technology precluded that possibility.
• 7/26/01 - Avaya Inc., the former business-equipment unit spun off by Lucent Technologies Inc., reported a 27% drop in fiscal third-quarter net income, hurt in part by a charge related to the spinoff. Avaya also announced an additional 2,000 job cuts, which will take place in the fourth quarter, mostly through buy-out offers. Avaya already announced 3,000 job cuts from a work force of 28,000.
• 7/26/01 - Exodus Communications Inc. reported a steep second-quarter loss as its Web-hosting business continued to suffer from the high-tech downturn. The company also announced plans to lay off about 50% of its 3,500-member work force.
• 7/26/01 - RealNetworks Inc. announced its first-ever job cuts, as the Internet-media company grapples with a severe downturn in technology spending and advertising. The company said it will reduce its staff by 15%, or about 150 of 950 positions. RealNetworks also said it will make "significant" reductions in discretionary spending.
• 7/26/01 - Alcatel SA reported a net loss of $2.75 billion for the second quarter and said its ongoing restructuring program will result in the elimination of 20,000 jobs by year end. Detailing previously announced plans for job cuts under its restructuring plan, Alcatel said 14,000 full-time workers and 4,000 contract workers will lose their jobs by year end, and 2,000 other positions will be eliminated through outsourcing. The company currently has about 110,000 employees.
• 7/26/01 - JDS Uniphase Corp. said it would lay off an additional 7,000 workers, or 35% of its remaining work force, and lowered financial targets for the sixth time this year. The new round of layoffs will bring JDS's job cuts to 16,000, or roughly 55% of its work foce at the start of the year.
• 7/26/01 - Chipmaker Infineon Technologies said it will be getting rid of 5,000 employees and pursuing other cost-cutting measures as they blame difficult market conditions. The company also said it plans to introduce short-time work schedules for some of the remaining employees.
• 7/26/01 - Computer hardware maker, Hewlett-Packard will be cutting 6,000 jobs to save money after forecasting this quarter's earnings falling below Wall Street expectations. The company said sales for the third quarter are about 14 to 16 percent lower than a year ago. Analysts expected only half of that amount.
• 7/25/01 - Allied Riser Communications, which delivers high-speed data connections to business customers in high-rise buildings, said that it will lay off 290 workers, or about 75 percent of its employees, over the next eight to 10 weeks. Allied Riser said it needs to reduce its costs while it "refocuses" its business plan.
• 7/25/01 - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has laid off 100 employees at its headquarters and eliminated 300 unfilled positions. The world's largest retailer, which employs 11,000 at its Bentonville headquarters and 1.2 million in the United States and abroad, hasn't had any layoffs at its home office since 1995. The cuts came as part of a periodic review of how the company can trim expenses.
• 7/25/01 - Audible, a company that specializes in spoken-word audio, says it has laid off 40 percent of its work force and its chief executive officer has resigned. Audible said 35 positions out of 85 have been eliminated as part of an effort to achieve positive cash flow.
• 7/25/01 - I2 Technologies is cutting approximately 10% of its 5,870 employees due to a drop in software sales and deep losses.

• 7/25/01 - Software maker BroadVision Inc. will lay off between 225 and 300 of its 1,500 workers as it tries to control spending. The company has lost 32% of its employees since the end of March.
• 7/25/01 - Alcatel, manufacturer of telecommunications equipment, announced it will cut 500 of its employees from Canada in an attempt to reduce costs.
• 7/24/01 - Phase2Media, an online advertising, sales and marketing company, filed for bankruptcy protection in a New York state court last week. The company, which hawked ad inventory for such sites as American Express and Brittanica.com, is the latest Internet company to fall during a stagnant online advertising market.
• 7/24/01 - The New York Stock Exchange announced that it plans to cut its remaining 150 floor reporters because changes in technology have made their jobs obsolete.
• 7/24/01 - CNET plans to cut 15% of its workforce or approximately 300 workers after suffering a net loss of $218.1 million or $1.60 a share. This comes in addition to the announcement of job cuts in February of 10% of its workforce.
• 7/24/01 - Engineering company ABB announced it will eliminate 12,000 employees from its payroll or about 7% of its workforce during the course of the next 18 months. This measure will save the company about $500 million.
• 7/24/01 - Reuters in an effort to reduce costs will cut 1,340 jobs after experiencing a 21% fall in profits during the first six months of this year. The company plans to depart 1,100 workers this year and 240 employees in 2002.
• 7/24/01 - Yet another reality blow to employees at Lucent Technologies, the company reported a third-quarter loss and plans to lay off an additional 15,000 to 20,000 employees in an attempt to reach profitability in fiscal 2002. The company experienced a 21% loss in revenue.
• 7/23/01 - Lucent Technologies' plans to sell its fiber unit to Furukawa Electric Co. of Japan are coming closer to reality. Such a move will result in 6,000 job cuts.
• 7/23/01 - musicmusicmusic inc., a music content provider, announced an internal restructuring in order to reduce its burn-rate and ensure its ability to execute its business plan within its current resources. The restructuring included cutting 25 positions.
• 7/23/01 - Avaya cuts 457 jobs, citing a slowdown in sales of the communications cable and other equipment made at its Connectivity Solutions plant in Omaha, Neb. Most workers were sent home Monday with a month's pay. Another 300 workers were given an early retirement offer.
• 7/23/01 - GreaterGood.com whose web sites fought world hunger and rain-forest destruction closed its doors. The company's board of directors decided not to invest more money.