Dot Com News from Week of March 19, 2001

• 3/23/01 - Adaptec, a maker of computer-networking devices, announced plans to cut 450 jobs, or 20% of its work force, citing a downturn in the economy.
• 3/23/01 - iMotors, an online used-car seller, said it will lay off 30% of its work force as part of a restructuring.
• 3/23/01 - IUMA, the original and premier artist community on the web, has signed an agreement to be acquired by Vitaminic, the leading European digital platform for the promotion and distribution of music over the Internet. The acquisition will allow IUMA to relaunch all suspended services within the week.
• 3/23/01 - coolsavings.com, a comprehensive e-marketing solution that delivers multiple incentive and promotional strategies including targeted coupons, has eliminated 67 persons or 24% of its workforce in order to help it reach profitability in the second half of 2001.
• 3/23/01 - Proxicom Inc., an Internet and electronic-business consultant, expects to post a loss for the first quarter amid weaker-than-expected revenue and plans to cut 227 jobs, or 19% of its work force, a move it says will save the company about $35 million annually. Proxicom, which currently has about 1,195 employees, said the planned job cuts will occur across all of its offices world-wide.
• 3/23/01 - In an effort to further reduce costs, Motorola Inc. announced another round of job cuts, setting plans to eliminate 4,000 positions in its networks unit, in an effort to further reduce costs. Motorola last week said it was slashing some 7,000 jobs in its cellphone-and-pager manufacturing business. With the 4,000 cuts announced Friday, Motorola has set plans to cut 22,000 jobs since December, out of a work force of 147,000, as it tries to adjust costs and respond to the weak cellphone market.
• 3/23/01 - 3Com Corp. said it is cutting 170 employees - about 1.5 percent of its work force - in the struggling network equipment maker's latest round of job cuts. Last month, it slashed 1,200 jobs.
• 3/22/01 - Net Perceptions, whose merchandising and personalization software is used by customers including Best Buy, J.C. Penney and Kmart, announced that it will reduce its work force by 46%, or 124 positions. After the reductions, Net Perceptions will have 145 employees.
• 3/22/01 - Infonet Services Corp., a provider of data-communications services to large corporations, effectively put itself up for sale, saying it will explore "strategic alternatives."
• 3/22/01 - E-learning company Headlight has laid off its staff and is preparing to file for bankruptcy. The San Francisco-based company informed its partners of its financial difficulties last week, explaining that it had not been able to secure additional funding.
• 3/22/01 - Charles Schwab, the largest discount and online broker in the United States, said it is slashing 11 percent to 13 percent of its work force in the face of an increasingly bearish market.
• 3/22/01 - AT&T said that it has won bankruptcy court approval to buy the assets of NorthPoint Communications, in a bid to strengthen its consumer broadband Internet and local phone services. On NorthPoint's Web site, Chief Executive Liz Fetter warned that "cessation of services to our customers and the complete shutdown of our network is imminent."
• 3/22/01 - PayMyBills.com has told customers who signed up for a free two years of service that they will have to start paying for services.
• 3/22/01 - E*spire, a Herndon, Va.-based company that offers telephone, Internet and Web hosting service, said it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Once placed in the ranks of promising new competitors to the big local phone companies, it has struggled with funding in recent months and seen its stock slip to just 30 cents per share.
• 3/21/01 - Attempting to cut costs in response to falling demand, chip test equipment maker Teradyne is taking the axe to its workforce and cutting 650 positions worldwide.
• 3/21/01 - DoubleClick, an Internet advertising company, said it will cut its work force by 10% in a move that it says will increase efficiency amid tough market conditions. The majority of job cuts will affect the company's global business and will leave it with 1,850 employees as of the end of the second quarter.
• 3/20/01 - Complete Wellness Centers, Inc. announced that it has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation. The company has attempted on two occasions to enter into merger agreements with similar operations along with financing plans, neither of which have been successful.
• 3/20/01 - Creative Technology Ltd., which makes digital entertainment products, is laying off 10 percent of its staff worldwide, or about 400 workers, to aggressively cut costs.
• 3/20/01 - Online learning company eCollege warned of deeper than expected losses and announced it will lay off 35 of its 330 workers amid lower than expected sales.
• 3/20/01 - Computer software giant Oracle Corp. said it will trim its work force by up to 2 percent, or 900 jobs, in an attempt to boost sagging profits. The company said the job cuts would range between 1 and 2 percent of its work force of 43,300 employees as of Feb. 28.
• 3/20/01 - Xpedior Inc., which helps other companies build Internet sites for electronic commerce, said it's cutting 300 jobs, or 42 percent of its workforce, and may file for bankruptcy protection because of a sales shortfall.
• 3/19/01 - Popular Power, one of a host of start-ups hoping to capitalize on the collective number-crunching abilities of the Internet, has thrown in the towel. Their Web site says: Popular Power is no longer in business. We are continuing to run our non-profit projects and will do so for as long as we are able.
• 3/19/01 - Jobs.com, an online employment site, filed for bankruptcy protection last week and laid off most of its staff. Jobs.com had 100 employees entering 2001. The company laid off 35 employees in January, and reduced its workforce to 11 last week.
• 3/19/01 - Solectron, a contract electronics manufacturer, expects to miss analysts' third-quarter estimates possibly by more than half and plans to cut more than 8,000 jobs.