Dot Com News from Week of September 10, 2001

• 9/16/01 - Continental Airlines said it would reduce its long-term flight schedule by about 20%, forcing it to furlough about 12,000 employees, roughly one fifth of its work force.
• 9/14/01 - Wi-LAN Inc., a global innovator of high-speed wireless data and Internet communications, announced management and structural changes to improve the company's cash flow used in operations by approximately $500,000 per month. Wi-LAN is also reducing its staff by 55% to approximately 55 people.
• 9/13/01 - Teradyne announced that it is extending its previously announced cost reduction programs in response to the continuing worldwide economic downturn. Among the actions taken were a reduction of about 1000 employees through a combination of voluntary separation programs and a layoff, as well as a salary cut for employees, based on a sliding scale. After the headcount reductions, Teradyne will employ approximately 8000 people, worldwide.
• 9/13/01 - Internet marketing company Netcentives said it is cutting its work force by 50 people to 130 as the company grapples with cutting costs and restructuring amid the dot-com decline. The layoffs come just weeks after Netcentives cut nearly half its staff, reducing its work force to 180 from 345 employees.
• 9/13/01 - American Greetings said that it has acquired Blue Mountain Arts, the struggling online greeting division of Excite@Home, for $35 million in cash. American Greetings will combine Blue Mountain with its own online card service, AmericanGreetings.com. American Greetings, which also owns Egreetings Network and BeatGreets, has combined its assets to become an online card heavyweight.
• 9/12/01 - Internet service provider Lycos Europe says it is cutting 300 jobs, almost a quarter of its work force, in a major restructuring aimed at improving the company's profitability. The job losses will cut the size of its work force to just under 1,000.
• 9/12/01 - Ebiz, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company that sells Linux software and hardware, is in dire straits because it has been unable to find financing. The company, along with its Unix and Linux subsidiary, Jones Business Systems, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
• 9/12/01 - It has been confirmed that employees and executives from 3Com, Akamai, BEA Systems, eLogic, MRV Communications, Metrocall, Netegrity, Nextwave, Oracle, Raytheon and Sun have been killed in Tuesday's terrorist attacks.
• 9/12/01 - Lineo will be shedding more than half of its entire work force or about 60 employees. Another 100 employees are expected to be shed as part of projects the company hopes to spin off.
• 9/12/01 - IBeam Broadcasting Corp., which provides streaming media technology and services, said it will need $25 million to $30 million of additional funds in order to stay in business past October. If the company can secure the necessary funds, it said it could become cash-flow positive during the third quarter.
• 9/11/01 - Due to a horrific disaster caused by two hijacked planes that crashed into the World Trade Center leading them both to collapse and one hijacked plane that crashed into the Pentagon, the stock market will be closed for business. It is not known how many dot com's might be affected by the tragedies and how many lives are lost.
• 9/10/01 - Jamcracker Inc., a company that offers companies a service that helps them use and manage software that is accessed over the Internet, said it has laid off about 50 employees, bringing the headcount down to 200 as part of an effort to present investors with a plan to get the company to break-even on the new funding commitments it has received.
• 9/10/01 - GoTo.com Inc., a provider of Pay-For-Performance search to Web sites across the Internet, announced that it will change its corporate name to Overture Services Inc.
• 9/10/01 - In a move that should increase the company's ability to stay competitive in the long run, Michelin North America Inc. plans to eliminate 2,000 positions or about 7.% of its staff by the close of 2003. The company expects to use attrition and voluntary severance programs to reduce most of the jobs and provide generous severance packages for involuntary job eliminations.
• 9/10/01 - Internet infrastructure services firm Loudcloud has announced another round of job cuts aimed at reducing costs and meeting other financial targets. The company did not reveal the number of jobs to be cut.
• 9/10/01 - The U.S. Justice Department made a very controversial decision not to seek to break up Microsoft Corp. in its well known antitrust trial. In addition, the government said it will not try to prove that the company tied its Internet Explorer browser with its Windows operating system -- once a focal point for the case. The government made these decisions as a quick and effective relief for consumers.
• 9/10/01 - AOL Germany announced Thursday it will lay off close to 8% of its workforce in an attempt to make operations more flexible and efficient as the company tries to become the number one Internet service provider in Germany. AOL Germany is a subsidiary of AOL Time Warner.
• 9/10/01 - Living a brief existence of only 16 months, Great Bridge has ceased operations. The company which was quoted by Fortune Magazine as one of the "25 coolest global companies", failed to attract more investors or a buyer. It is not known how many employees were affected by the shutdown.
• 9/10/01 - Blaming a weakening economy, telecommunications company Qwest handed 4,000 of its employees or about 6% pink slips while lowering its forecast for the second half of 2001. More specifically, the company cited a higher than anticipated unemployment rate, lessening consumer confidence and other economic factors as the reason to lower its forecasts and shed employees.