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Technology Stocks : InfoSpace (INSP): Where GNET went! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sandintoes who wrote (28167)	3/8/2005 1:33:57 AM
From: SI Bob	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 28311

For my part, the latest installment makes me feel quite vindicated for my faith in Russ Horowitz. He wasn't as "charismatic" as Jain, and that was fine. He was about work and success, and very accessible to all of us. The lowly Admin of SI could email him and get a reply later the same day; sometimes minutes later. I really thought we were all saved when it was announced that Russ had taken over, and my hopes were dashed when he was gone days later. When he was gone, I no longer cared whether I remained or not, save for my options. In fact, didn't Russ occasionally jump in here and talk with us? I really don't think Russ knew about the upcoming layoffs. They were a very carefully guarded secret. Hell, I didn't know I was part of the layoff until 3 days later. Though I was still on the employee mailing list for several months later, and it was very revealing to see how Jain communicated with the employees after the layoff. An underlying current of the ousted employees being an albatross removed from the company's neck. I never really could figure out why it was that I was laid off with several years of experience and my own layoff being "newsworthy" when newcomer Jeff's layoff wouldn't have attracted attention. I think there was more text printed about my layoff than that 250 others were laid off. I had suspicions about why I was laid off, though. 1. I was a remote employee. 2. InfoSpace, knowing nothing of Go2Net's properties, had no idea that my layoff would get extra attention from the media. 3. My salary, low though it was, was likely higher than Jeff's. Can't fault them for that part. 4. As one of very few people with ITM stock options not yet vested, I was one of very few employees who could eventually exercise stock options and sell the stock. Personally, I think #4 was the biggest reason. Due to the Go2Net stock splits, my options package had grown to a decent size. I'm such a Russ Horowitz fan, I wish our companies could somehow fit into Marchex's business model because I'd love to work with him again and contribute to earnings again in a public dot-com.