Dot Com News from Week of December 18, 2000

• 12/22/00 - Farmclub.com, a multimedia music company, has fired 17 staffers, or 15 percent of its workforce. Its audience has plummeted by 70 percent this season.

• 12/22/00 - Iconixx.com, a Web development company, has given 19 percent of Iconixx's employees their pink slip. Inconixx had about 550 on the payroll before the layoffs. The layoffs came just 10 days after the company withdrew its initial public offering.

• 12/22/00 - ClickaBid.com, Canada's online auction site, posted this message on their Web site: "To our bidders and sellers, we regret to inform you that clickabid has ceased operating effective Friday, December 22, 2000. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your patronage."

• 12/21/00 - In an attempt to focus on its offline beenzCodes business, Beenz.com, known for offering Internet currency for incentive-based rewards programs, laid off 28 people.

• 12/21/00 - Sonic Foundry, a developer of software for creating, manipulating and storing digital audio and video data, announced plans to cut 157 jobs in order to stem its losses for its 2000 fiscal year. Sonic's remaining workforce will total about 240 employees.

• 12/21/00 - Patriot Computer, manufacturer of Barbie and Hot Wheels branded PC's, has filed for bankruptcy.

• 12/21/00 - HearMe.com, a developer of voice communication software over the Internet, has issued a profit warning and will reduce staff by 44 percent, which is approximately 100 employees. HearMe also plans to sell its Live Communities unit, including the Mplayer.com Internet games-and-entertainment service, to GameSpy Industries.

• 12/20/00 - BizBuyer.com, an online B2B, request-for-quote sourcing solution for growing businesses, announced it will begin the process of closing down its operations and laying off its employees. The company could not reasonably expect to reach profitability with its current resources.

• 12/20/00 - Onvia.com will eliminate 180 jobs out of a total staff of 383. As a result, Firstsource Corp. will now manage the sale of its online goods and services. Onvia is a Seattle-based business-to-business marketplace for small-business buyers and sellers.

• 12/20/00 - In order to lower operating expenses in 2001 and turn a profit, Salon.com, a leading Internet media company, said that it will eliminate 25 jobs, or approximately 20 percent of its staff.

• 12/20/00 - Raging Bull has hired an investment banker to find potential buyers. Raging Bull, provides free real-time stock quotes, news, original editorial and over 15,000 discussion boards.

• 12/19/00 - Red Herring Communications, publisher of Red Herring magazine, has announced it will lay off another 32 employees, or 10 percent of its staff, as part of a plan to contract out its Internet operations. Red Herring laid off about 25 employees in October.

• 12/19/00 - MVP.com, an online sports and outdoors store, claims it will eliminate 50 percent of its staff of 166 and will shut down operations in Boulder, Colorado and Austin, Texas.

• 12/18/00 - HeavenlyDoor.com announced that it has entered into an agreement to sell its Web-based assets including the Company's Website, www.heavenlydoor.com, to Remembered Ones.com Inc.

• 12/18/00 - Due to financial difficulties, one of the largest ISP's in the United Kingdom, Breathe.com, is up for sale. Breathe.com does not yet plan layoffs of its 140-member staff. The company has reportedly lost $74 million.

• 12/18/00 - Techies.com laid off 120 workers, or about 40 percent of its staff. The company, a career site for IT workers, made this move in order to reach profitability in the third quarter of 2001.

• 12/18/00 - Scour Exchange, a site similar to Napster, plans to relaunch as a fee-based subscription service during the first quarter of 2001.

• 12/18/00 - Stan Lee Media Inc. announced that it has suspended its production operations and laid off substantially all of its staff. New financing options are being explored by key executives at the company.