"new coverage today
Healtheon/WebMD HLTH Friedman Billings Buy $35 target"
FBR strikes again. Buyer beware. The "new coverage today" is now complemented by the following release that just came on the wires . . .
NEW YORK (AP) - Healtheon/WebMD Corp. this week has started laying off some its workers, becoming the latest high-flying Internet company to resort to pink slips to cut expenses.
The Atlanta-based company, which is trying to connect doctors, patients, insurers and labs online, refused to disclose how many workers were being laid off.
A spokesman said Thursday that this first round layoffs is part of an effort to slice $75 million from the company's projected $1 billion in 2000 expenses.
Steve Grant, Healtheon/WebMD's chief operating officer, said there will more waves of layoffs. He also said the cutbacks were part of the company's strategy to turn a profit by the end of 2001.
He said the company remains strong financially and has $1 billion in the bank.
Healtheon/WebMD, which has seen its stock price plunge more than 75 percent this year as Wall Street has soured on money-losing Internet companies, said its litany of acquisitions in the past two years has given it the opportunity to eliminate duplicate resources.
Healtheon/WebMD now has 2,210 employees in 25 offices nationwide, but it's adding another 3,300 workers with its pending purchase of Medical Manager Corp. and its CareInsite subsidiary.
In the first six months of this year, Healtheon/WebMD lost $128.6 million, excluding one-time charges, on revenue of $167 million.
Many Internet company workers are paying the price as high-flying stock prices crash down to earth and funding dries up. Furniture retailer Living.com closed its doors earlier this week, while ValueAmerica filed for bankruptcy last week, saying it was ending its Internet retailing operations.
Another prominent Internet health company, drkoop.com laid off a third of its staff in May.
Forrester Research recently prediced that most Internet firms will go out of business by 2001.
Shares of Healtheon/WebMD on Thursday rose 81 cents to $13.25 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. |
