While I exited at $7, I thought that I would make one last post to this thread before I remove my bookmark:
news.cnet.com
Music supplier lays off 170 staff members
By Gwendolyn Mariano
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
June 29, 2000, 1:10 p.m. PT
Video and music distributor Valley Media today said it has laid off 170 employees as part of an ongoing recovery plan
aimed at returning to profitability.
Valley Media had about 2,400 employees at the end of last year and plans to reduce its work force to about 1,700, mostly through
attrition. The measures are aimed at slashing expenses after the company in March reported a sharp drop in earnings.
Valley Media chief executive Barney Cohen said in a statement that he has a "responsibility to our
remaining employees and to our shareholders to ensure that we are profitable again."
"We've explored every possible alternative, but the company simply does not have the income to support
these staffing levels," Cohen said.
Following Robert Cain's resignation last month, Cohen stepped in as Valley Media's president and chief
executive.
The turnaround effort comes as the company is making a push in online distribution. With more than 200
retail partners, Valley Media is a leading music and video distributors in the United States. In February,
the company agreed to merge its Internet operations with online music supplier Amplified.com to hasten
the adoption of digital downloading as a means of commercial distribution.
Valley Media's staff cuts come at a time when numerous online companies are experiencing financial
difficulties that are forcing layoffs.
The company's Woodland, Calif., headquarters laid off 100 administrative employees, and 60 open positions will be eliminated June
30.
Valley Media's operations work force in California and Kentucky will be reduced by 70 employees, following an almost 30 percent cut
of overall staff that has occurred since last December.
The company's stock has dropped sharply since it went public last year. It was trading around $3.25 today, well below its 52-week
high of $25.8 7.
Net income dropped from a gain of $4.4 million in fiscal 1999 to a loss of $4.6 million in fiscal 2000, and earnings per share decreased
from a gain of 77 cents in fiscal 1999 to a loss 54 cents in fiscal 2000. |
