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To: jlib who wrote (61666)	10/28/2000 2:37:06 PM
From: StockDung	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 122087

End of Story for Bigwords.com The college-textbook seller shuts down its 2 offices and lays off nearly 100 workers after failing to secure more VC funding. By Ronna Abramson Despite having racked up some big-name investors, college textbook seller Bigwords.com has shut down its operations in San Francisco and Kentucky and laid off nearly 100 employees after failing to secure more venture capital funding. A message on the site posted Friday said that the company "succumbed … to the powers that be" and informed customers that back orders and orders placed on or after Oct. 20 would not be processed. On Oct. 20, the company laid off about 70 employees in its South Park office in San Francisco, along with six employees and 22 temporary employees at its new distribution center in Kentucky, according to several employees. Former Bigwords VP of operations and Publisher Todd Sotkiewicz, the company's 20th employee, said everyone in San Francisco was let go except the CEO, CFO and CTO. Company co-founder and CEO Matt Johnson did not return several calls to comment. Sotkiewicz said employees were paid in full for their work up until that date, and other employees confirmed that they received cashier's checks. Sotkiewicz attributed the company's demise to the cooling attitude of investors toward e-commerce companies. "We were looking for another round for strategic partners that focused on the college opportunity," Sotkiewicz says. "I just think that the financial community was not ready to support the opportunity." He stressed that the company's early investors had provided support. "It was finding investors at that next level that was becoming more and more difficult," he says. The company's last round of investors, which included such heavy-hitters as NBC and WPP Group (WPPGY) , owner of major advertising agencies such as Young & Rubicam (YNR) and Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, handed Bigwords $30 million in June. Other investors included 21st Century Internet Venture Partners, Geocapital Partners, Media Technology Ventures, Attractor Investor Management, Trans Cosmos USA and St. Paul Venture Capital. Officials with NBC and WPP declined to comment on the company's collapse. Bigwords, known for guerilla marketing tactics that included dressing student representatives in orange jumpsuits, announced plans last summer to evolve from just a textbook seller to a media site with original content and expanded e-commerce offerings, such as clothing. The idea was to draw visitors – and generate revenue – year-round, rather than just at the beginning of a new semester twice a year, when most college students buy textbooks. Bigwords even hired editors from such magazines as Details and Jane to create an online magazine targeted to its 18- to 24-year-old market. The company's closure came just a few months after it moved into a larger, state-of-the-art distribution center in Kentucky – a move that in hindsight some employees suggested might have been premature. In September, the peak of the textbook buying season, Bigwords laid off nearly 100 employees. Workers in the distribution center said the company failed to meet projected sales. "I was told we were actually hitting about 10 percent of what our projections were," says Vern Reynolds, IT manager of the distribution center and among the six laid off Oct. 20. The farewell posting on the Bigwords Web site said it counted 800,000 unique visitors per month and about $14 million in sales. The site's demise was greeted with mixed feelings among employees, with some harboring resentment for being left in the dark about the company's troubles and others regretful that they no longer are employed at a place they loved to work. "These people are pathological liars," one angry former Kentucky employee laid off in September wrote in an e-mail. But Victoria Wilinski, who relocated from San Francisco to Kentucky in December and became director of operations and purchasing, said most people were upset that the company "that won all our hearts no longer employs them." "I never worked at a company where the employees so believed in the vision and were willing to sacrifice so much to see it work," Wilinski said in an e-mail. Indeed, David Keeps, the editorial director in San Francisco who formerly worked as the West Coast editor of Details magazine, said it was disappointing that his team of 14 people could not realize their vision of an online magazine for college-age readers, both male and female. "The sense of [having] just tasted the appetizers and not being able to have the full meal was very evident," he says. Check out The Standard's Dot-Com Layoff Tracker for a look at which sites have cut workers or closed up shop. Also, e-mail any tips on layoffs or closures to layoffs@thestandard.com.

To: jlib who wrote (61666)	10/29/2000 8:47:31 PM
From: jlib	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 122087

"When the Nasdaq index plunges relative to the overall market, the comeback has historically been far slower," says David Ranson... "This historical fact dominates the current situation." But, he cautioned: "It is not safe to buy tech stocks 'on the dips' when Nasdaq plunges out of proportion to the market as a whole." dailynews.yahoo.com