Dot Com News from Week of December 3, 2001

• 12/8/01 - CNN is giving the death sentence to "Burden of Proof," the legal talk show inspired by the O.J. Simpson trial. It's also pulling three other shows and eliminating the jobs of about 30 employees, including on-air talent Joie Chen and Roger Cossack. The people losing their jobs all worked on shows that are being dumped.
• 12/7/01 - Lockheed Martin will abandon its telecom-services business resulting in the loss of 650 employees. The company has made this decision because of competition in the telecom industry as well as weakening business and economic conditions in Latin America. The cuts account for less than 1% of the company's 126,000 strong workforce.
• 12/6/01 - Arch Wireless, which owes creditors about $2 billion, filed for bankruptcy protection and plans to submit a reorganization plan to a U.S. bankruptcy court by Jan. 15. It plans to continue operating, upheld by a recent infusion of $100 million in capital from a group of banks led by TD Securities--and some of the debtors themselves.
• 12/6/01 - Wireless Internet service provider Yada Yada, launched last year, announced the shutdown on its Web site. The site said service would end Thursday, with desktop Internet access available until Dec. 13. Customers who pre-paid for December and beyond will get refunds, the site said.
• 12/6/01 - Fans of Live365 have been forced to groove elsewhere after the popular Net radio portal was temporarily shut down this week--one event in a long stream of misfortunes that have plagued the industry. A notice posted on the Live365 Web site attributes the glitch to a problem with the company's broadband provider. The notice said the company is looking for another Internet service provider, but "due to the volume of traffic we support, our requirements are not easily met. (We) hope to be back up very soon."
• 12/6/01 - Dutch banking and insurance company ING plans to cut 1,600 employees in the United States as it battles a weak American economy and difficult market conditions. The cuts account for 15% of its 10,700 strong workforce in America. The company employees over 100,00 people worldwide.
• 12/5/01 - Yahoo Inc. completed its second round of job cuts this year, eliminating 400 positions worldwide, including 88 in Dallas. The Internet media company had said last month that it would reduce its global workforce of about 3,250 people by 12 percent as part of a reorganization aimed at achieving "sustainable, profitable growth.
• 12/5/01 - Technology services provider Comdisco said that it will cut its work force by about 10 percent as part of cost-reduction efforts that have come after its July bankruptcy filing. Comdisco employs 1,272 people worldwide, including about 680 in Illinois.
• 12/5/01 - Excite's 1,350 workers are bracing for layoffs, expected to occur during the next few weeks. They expect the Redwood City, Calif., concern to pare down its staff to the bare minimum employees needed, in part to conserve the little cash that the company still has.
• 12/5/01 - Automotive wheel supplier Hayes Lemmerz International Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy-court protection for its U.S. units and said it plans to reorganize with help from $200 million in financing from a group led by CIBC World Markets Corp.
• 12/5/01 - In addition to freezing wages at telephone company Pacific Century CyberWorks, the company plans to terminate the employment of 506 people. CEO Richard Li blamed competition and the weak economy in Hong Kong as well as around the world. The company will have 13,500 employees after the cuts.
• 12/5/01 - Agere Systems announced it will cross out 950 names from its payroll as it struggles through a weak demand for semiconductors. The cuts are are expected to lower costs and decrease its quarterly breakeven level from $900 million to $700 million.
• 12/5/01 - CNA Financial Corp. will eliminate 1,850 positions of approximately 10% of its 18,350 strong work force as it restructures its property-casualty and life-insurance departments and cease operations of its variable life and annuity business. The company plans the closure of 101 offices during the first half of 2002.
• 12/4/01 - Amazon.com plans to relaunch Egghead.com after buying the electronics retailer's assets in bankruptcy court for $6.1 million in cash.
• 12/4/01 - Boo.com, the most spectacular of British dotcom failures, is poised to crash into oblivion for a second time. Fashionmall.com, the American e-commerce company that rescued the Boo.com website from liquidation less than 18 months ago, last week said it was considering abandoning online retailing because it could not make any money.
• 12/4/01 - British Telecommunications said it will cut an additional 5,200 jobs, or 4.6% of its work force, from its retail business as part of an effort to trim costs and boost productivity.
• 12/4/01 - AOL Time Warner plans to shut down iPublish.com by the end of the year and cut 29 jobs because the market has not developed the way the company had expected.
• 12/4/01 - Excite At Home said it will cease operations on Feb. 28, 2002, after AT&T Corp. dropped a $307 million bid for the beleaguered Internet provider's cable assets.
• 12/4/01 - Enron Corp. is now looking towards its largest creditors to save it -- particularly J.P. Morgan Chase & Company and Citigroup Inc. Both companies collectively secured up to $1.5 billion which will keep the company alive as it undergoes Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
• 12/3/01 - Webnoize, the digital entertainment research firm and subscription news service, has at least temporarily ceased publication as the company moves to restructure. The company posted messages on its Web site today apologizing to subscribers for halting publication of entertainment news and research, adding that it hopes to return to business in 2002.
• 12/3/01 - MSNBC.com laid off 9% of its staff, or about 18 people, citing a downturn in advertising revenues.
• 12/3/01 - Cordiant Communication Group said its revenue and profit would fall even more than previously expected this year and announced further job cuts, underscoring fears that the depressed advertising industry has a long way to go before recovery. Job cuts will now total 1,100, or about 11% of the total work force, instead of the 700 announced earlier.