OT Dear CB: I totally agree. Maybe Jeff didn't get paid as much being junior to Bob??
Someone already started a thread to try and get SI Bob back:
Subject 50764
Although INFS is cutting 21% of it's work force, I never would have though Bob would be one to get the axe. The question I've seen on some threads is: What is the intended fate of SI itself?
InfoSpace shares take a hit after job cuts
By Dawn Kawamoto
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
February 6, 2001, 2:55 p.m. PT
update Shares of InfoSpace fell nearly 14 percent Tuesday, a day after
the company announced plans to cut 21 percent of its work force.
The stock ended the regular session down 59 cents to $3.66. Earlier in the day,
the stock dipped as low as $3.50.
While layoffs have led to a pop in share price for a number of companies in this
move-to-profitability climate, such was not the case for the Bellevue,
Wash.-based technology platform provider. Analysts attribute the stock's sharp
decline to several issues, ranging from a large lockup of insider shares expiring
last week to the fact that more mom-and-pop investors are involved in the stock
as opposed to institutional investors.
Institutional investors
are indeed cutting their
position in the
company.
"We lost confidence in
the company and the
stock wasn't working for
us, said one portfolio
manager, whose fund
has since divested its
stake in InfoSpace.
"Their revenue
estimates were coming
in below our
estimates."
Another portfolio
manager, who has been trimming back his fund's position, said pull institutional
holders have been taking action based in part on whether they "liked the old
management team or the new one."
Last month, InfoSpace announced that Chief Executive Arun Sarin, and its chief
financial officer and chief operating officer were resigning. Sarin, who headed
Vodafone-AirTouch's U.S. and Asia operations, was seen as strategic to the
company's efforts to further boost its wireless efforts. Naveen Jain, the
company's chairman, returned to the role as CEO.
Analysts also attribute the stock's sharp decline to an increasing number of
retail investors involved in the stock, who may not be as familiar with the
company's balance sheet.
"The perception may be that these layoffs are a last ditch effort to save the
company, when that's not the case at all," said Jack Ripsteen, a J.P. Morgan
H&Q analyst. "This is not a distressed dot-com laying off people to stay afloat.
They are well-financed and have low debt."
InfoSpace had $67 million in cash, $303 million in short-term securities and no
long-term debt at the end of the year, according the company's quarterly
earnings release.
This latest stock drop comes after the company announced last week that its
revenue would fall by about a third from Wall Street's expectations for the year.
Analysts expected the company to generate more than $300 million this year,
but have since lowered those estimates to slightly more than $200 million.
InfoSpace said it would cut 250 positions from its global work force of 1,200, as
the company tries to transition its business toward the faster growing wireless
and broadband focus and away from its consumer business, which accounts for
more than half of its revenue.
The company said it plans to give further details on its restructuring plans in the
next three weeks and revised financial estimates for 2001 and 2002.
Portfolio managers, former employees and analysts said it is too early to tell
whether Jain can successfully rebuild the company he founded.
"They've already had the train wreck. Now it's a question of if they can turn the
company around," said Matt Finick, an analyst with Thomas Weisel Partners.
"Clearly, if you look at the market and stock, people aren't that optimistic of the
potential."
Finick, however, said it is too early to assess, given the company is still several
weeks away from announcing its restructuring plans.
yahoofin.cnet.com
Regards,
Lynn |
