Dot Com News from Week of May 14, 2001

• 5/20/01 - French media giant Vivendi Universal said it will buy its one-time legal foe MP3.com Inc. for about $372 million in hopes of bolstering its online music business.
• 5/18/01 - KB Toys said it has acquired the eToys name, logo, trademarks, and URLs for $3.4 million in a bankruptcy auction. KB Toys recently bought the eToys inventory.
• 5/18/01 - CyberRebate.com, a popular Web site that promised its customers free merchandise if they were willing to pay an inflated price up front and then wait three months for a full rebate check, has declared a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. The company's Web site carried a message that wasn't very optimistic. It said the Web site had been shut down and most employees let go. It added that "questions regarding customers, vendors, and others affected will be resolved as the bankruptcy process proceeds."
• 5/18/01 - Concept Five which develops e-business services has laid off 75% of its workers since April after losing an account with a major national bank and two separate instances of layoffs. Victims of the layoffs reportedly received no severance pay.
• 5/18/01 - Egarden.com's garden has wilted. The company which sold gardening tools and equipment, sees no way to make a profit or even break even in the future. The company will continue its remaining auctions and maintain its FindPlants.com web site until further notice. They are seeking a sale, merger or strategic alliance.
• 5/18/01 - Art.com is no more as its owner Getty Images, Inc. pulled the plug on the site seeing as it would only hurt future earnings. Getty Images focuses on selling electronic images to Web sites and media organizations and acquired Art.com in May of 1999.
• 5/18/01 - OnSite Access Inc which wires buildings for access to the Internet, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company's wholly owned subsidiaries OnSite Access LLC and OnSite Access Local LLC also filed for Chapter 11 while its Canadian subsidiary OnSite Access Canada Holdings Inc. is not included. The company plans to sell its business. However, if it is unsuccessful in doing so, the company will close down.
• 5/18/01 - Chinadotcom plans to trim its staff by eliminating 25% or approximately 500 jobs by the end of June. They anticipate saving $50 million yearly as an overall cost cutting plan which also included eliminating 400 people in March.
• 5/17/01 - Luxlook.com, authorized online retailer dedicated exclusively to the sale of luxury accessories from the world's leading fashion brands, announced that it will close its business operations at the end of the month. The United States and the United Kingdom sites will cease trading on Thursday, May 31st, 2001 while the rest of Europe site, serving 14 countries, will close on May 18th.
• 5/17/01 - Telesat Canada announced it will begin trials to increase the speed of two-way Broadband technology via satellite while saving money. They will begin testing in schools, businesses, telecommuters, and government in marginally populated areas.
• 5/17/01 - Vaclav Havel, perhaps better known as the Czechoslovakian president, is suing the owner of a porn site baring his wife's name, Dagmar Havlova. The leader complains that the site damages his good name and makes a profit from using her name.
• 5/16/01 - Cirrus Logic, which makes semiconductors for consumer-electronics products, said it has laid off 120 workers, about 9 percent of its work force, and will also cut the use of contract workers.
• 5/16/01 - eMerge Interactive, which provides software for the U.S. beef-production industry, said it would discontinue its online store and cut about 60 jobs, or 15 percent of its work force, as part of a reorganization plan.
• 5/16/01 - WorldCom, the second-biggest U.S. long-distance telephone company, plans to lay off more workers this year to trim expenses. WorldCom will cut jobs internationally to lower general and administrative expenses and sales costs in the second half.
• 5/16/01 - Consumer-Linux company Eazel closed its doors this week after 16 months of developing a Linux interface for the consumer market. The company had spent the last several months in pursuit of a second round of funding.
• 5/16/01 - Business analysis technology builder Hyperion said it is taking broad cost-cutting measures, including the elimination of about 15 percent of its workforce. Hyperion said it will reduce its global workforce of about 2,651 by up to 15 percent, meaning about 400 jobs will go.
• 5/15/01 - Online ad firm 24/7 Media Inc. reported a sharply wider first-quarter loss, as the withering online ad market took its toll on the company's financial results and said it was closing its Latin American operations to help cut costs.

• 5/15/01 - Baltimore Technologies, an international provider of information security products and services, posted a dismal set of first quarter results and announced plans to lay off 250 staff, or about 18 percent of its total workforce.
• 5/15/01 - Zany Brainy Inc., a retailer of products for children, said it has filed for protection from its creditors under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy laws.
• 5/14/01 - Roku Technologies, a software developer, is seeking a buyer after shutting its doors and laying off most, if not all, of the company's 40 or so staff.
• 5/14/01 - Launch Media, a provider of Internet music content, said it cut 60 jobs, reducing its work force to 175, and will consolidate its Santa Monica operations into one facility. Launch Media also terminated its European expansion plans and its relationship with Softbank Media & Marketing for its Launch Japan unit.
• 5/14/01 - An Omnicom Group Inc. venture made an offer Monday to acquire Web-consulting firm Agency.com Inc. in a two-part transaction. The offer was announced the same day Agency set plans to cut its work force by 25%.
• 5/14/01 - FairMarket Inc. said it eliminated 40 positions, or about one-quarter of its work force, and said Chief Executive and President Eileen Rudden resigned. FairMarket provides software and services that let businesses conduct auctions using inventory management and other existing corporate software packages.
• 5/14/01 - Optical-switch maker Corvis plans to cut 250 jobs at its U.S. operations as part of an effort to streamline initiatives and reduce operating expenses.
• 5/14/01 - Clarent, which builds technology that allows people to make phone calls over the Net, has laid off 90 full-time workers and 20 contract or temporary workers. Overall, the company had more than 1,000 employees.
• 5/14/01 - E-business application service provider netASPx has laid off an undisclosed number of employees as part of a restructuring.