eTown.com, an electronics review website closed its doors today in San Francisco, laying off 100 employees and becoming yet another ".com" to go out of business.

Buy.com to cut 40 percent of its staff
By Troy Wolverton;Greg Sandoval CNET News.com
Online retailer Buy.com will lay off more than 40 percent of its staff, sources close to the company said, with the cuts affecting several departments and marking its second round of cuts in less than a month.

Sources said the 230-person staff at Buy.com will be cut by about 100 people. Earlier this month, the company trimmed its staff by 25 jobs. Executives at Buy.com did not return phone calls.

One of the few remaining Web-only retailers, Buy.com has reeled during the past month. The company's chief executive and chief financial officers resigned two weeks ago following the company's announcement that it missed fourth-quarter estimates.

Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based Buy.com reported a fourth-quarter loss of $27.4 million, or 20 cents per share, compared with the 19 cents per share analysts had predicted. The company also slashed 2001 sales projections from $1.05 billion to $600 million.

The company's share price has slid since the company's initial public offering a year ago, when it raised $186 million. Buy.com saw a high of $26.40 the day after its IPO, and since then it has marked a steady decline. When the markets closed Monday, Buy.com shares were trading at 41 cents.

Multitudes of online merchants have gone out of business and those remaining are under siege, including the Internet's largest retailer Amazon.com.

Amazon has had to fight off analyst assertions that the company could run out of cash by the end of the year. Last week, The Washington Post reported that Amazon's suppliers were growing fearful that the company faced insolvency, a condition that, if it worsens, could lead suppliers to eventually stop shipping goods to the Seattle-based e-tailer.

The latest dot-com casualty came Monday as eToys, which was one of the Web's premier toy stores a year ago, said that it would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and shutter its Web site by the end of next week.



[This message has been edited by Sammy (edited 02-27-2001).]

Last year, even before dot-coms started to splat all over Silicon Valley sidewalks, wise watchers of the Internet liked to say that the real action was elsewhere -- in the hundreds of millions of dollars that old-economy companies were spending to improve their efficiency. These transformations, while less than glamorous, would allow them to grow faster than ever.

But growth is not a word heard often in any context these days, and companies are reassessing their Web strategies in light of the sudden economic slowdown. Some are pulling back, while others are speeding up spending, hoping to find even greater savings in everything from purchasing to training workers. And some companies are acting on this discovery: a technology that lets you do more with the same number of people also lets you do the same amount of business with fewer people.

In other words, Americans who have become used to getting mail, books and even cars online may now be receiving pink slips as a result of the Internet.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/28/te...gy/28SCHW.html


AND:

On Sale at Walmart.com: Pink Slips
The company says a 10% layoff signals a shift in marketing strategies, not a loss of faith in the business
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/...010228_419.htm

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 02-28-2001).]

As of March 5th, 2001, Driveway will discontinue all Driveway.com file
sharing and storage services. We have appreciated your support and use of
Driveway. Effective immediately, Driveway is no longer accepting new user
registrations, file uploads or purchases of additional space. After March
5th, 2001, you will no longer be able to access any files stored at
Driveway.com.


AND:
This time last year, Silicon Valley was all about ego. Now, it�s all about blame. With the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index dancing close to the 2000 mark � down from over 5000 � Internet entrepreneurs and venture capitalists have stepped up their finger-pointing about just who�s at fault for the technology meltdown, which continues to topple businesses and once-cushy lifestyles here.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/539187.asp

Egghead.com, an Internet retailer of technology products for small businesses, is laying off 77 employees, or about 12 percent of its work force.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/busi...d-Layoffs.html

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 03-05-2001).]

CyberCash Inc., which processes credit card transactions for online merchants, filed for federal bankruptcy protection because it was unable to secure financing necessary to complete a merger.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/st...030506071.html


Troubled Internet retailer eToys filed for bankruptcy Wednesday and said it will shut down its Web site by the end of the day.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/busi...ankruptcy.html

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 03-07-2001).]

Internet incubator Idealab, which has seen the value of its listed companies plunge in recent months, on Wednesday said it is pulling out of Silicon Valley, the Web's premier development location.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/techn...dealab-dc.html

Elite members of New York's "Net" set participated in panels at last week's Silicon Alley 2001 conference in Manhattan. They were articulate about what has to happen to make Net business viable--but spouted JELL-O about how and when.
http://www.forbes.com/2001/03/08/0308simons.html

Go.com will be staying, the Walt Disney Co. said Monday, announcing that rather than close the Web portal it will maintain the site using a former rival's technology to power its search engine.

Disney launched a redesigned site quietly last Wednesday, replacing its extensive series of articles and its powerful Infoseek search engine with links to content on other Disney-owned sites, including abcnews.com and espn.com.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/busi...-Internet.html

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 03-12-2001).]

Online encyclopedia company Britannica.com Inc. is laying off 68 people, mostly from its corporate headquarters in Chicago, in its latest effort to reach profitability.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/busi...a-Layoffs.html


AND: CMGI, an Internet venture company, said today that its fiscal second-quarter loss widened sharply after it wrote down the value of some assets, while revenue more than doubled.

CMGI, based in Andover, said it lost $2.56 billion, or $7.86 a share, for the quarter that ended Jan. 31, compared with a loss of $185.6 million, or 74 cents a share, in the quarter a year earlier.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/14/te...gy/14CMGI.html

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 03-14-2001).]

No Pink Slip. You're Just Dot-Gone
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/18/we...ew/18LUBE.html


AND:

GREED & stupidity. Not surprisingly, these are seen by the American public as the main reasons for the collapse of the dot-com industry in 2000, a social research group has said.

The PEW research center survey, released on Friday, found 67 per cent of US residents who've heard about the dot-com industry failure attribute the demise to "investors' desire to turn quick profits" - greed.
http://www.economictimes.com/today/18tech10.htm

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 03-18-2001).]

PointsUniverse, "the redemption portal of the AwardTrack network of affiliates," is the latest casualty in the online rewards space. PointsUniverse website http://www.pointsuniverse.com

was down. Calls to AwardTrack, the parent company of PointsUniverse, were not returned.
http://www.awardmiles.com/index.html

AND:

Marketing software company Net Perceptions Inc. (NETP.O) said on Thursday it expects to post a wider first-quarter loss than Wall Street had forecast and will cut 124 jobs, or 46 percent of its work force, as customers defer purchase decisions because of the uncertain economy.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/techn...eptions-o.html

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 03-23-2001).]

Internet news site WSJ.com intends to lay off some of its staff as part of a restructuring plan to reduce costs amid the Net advertising slowdown, parent company Dow Jones confirmed Thursday.

A representative for the publishing behemoth said there will be a "limited amount" of positions cut in some areas of Dow Jones, including at WSJ.com, which has about 250 employees. The representative declined to give further details except to say the company intends to provide more information when it releases first-quarter earnings, slated for April 12.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh


Cut-rate computer provider eMachines Inc. (EEEE.O) announced on Thursday plans to restructure its operations to limit exposure to the declining Internet advertising market.

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/techn...chines-dc.html

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 03-29-2001).]

Online retailer Kozmo said Wednesday it has shutdown its Web site and will cease operations in all of its markets. Nearly 1,100 workers will be laid off.

The New York-based privately held company said the closing was effective immediately. The company's Web site didn't load and a phone number for Kozmo was unable to accept any calls.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/busi...-Shutdown.html

AND:

Internet media giant Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO.O) on Wednesday reported a first-quarter net loss, compared with a profit in the same year-earlier quarter, and said it would cut 12 percent of its workforce as it struggles with declining advertising revenues.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/busin...oo-earns-.html

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 04-11-2001).]

****! A great selection of DVDs delivered in an hour and only $1 more to have them pick it up! I will miss that. Actually, I think I still have one of their DVDs

Even the WSJ & Dow Jones have been affected!

Dow Jones & Co. said Thursday it is laying off 202 workers, or about 2 percent of its work force, as it reported first-quarter earnings just below expectations, which had already been lowered twice. It also eliminated 300 job openings.

The publisher of The Wall Street Journal announced a month ago that it planned to make ``limited'' staff cuts along with other cost reductions as it struggled to cope with a sudden downturn in advertising.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/busi...Dow-Jones.html


AND: In another casualty from the high-tech downturn, Dell Computer Corp. has canceled its major customer conference, DirectConnect, which was set for August.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/busi...onference.html

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 04-12-2001).]

This notice from Themestream.com, dated 4/13/01:

"Subject: Themestream Closes Its Doors
Date: 13 Apr 2001 06:14:07 -0000
From: [email protected]

Dear Subscriber,

Due to the current business climate, the Themestream web service will close its doors on April 13, 2001. It has always been our pleasure to serve you. And it hurts us to tell you that we are ceasing all business operations.
We will continue to abide by our privacy policy and will take all reasonable steps to safeguard any of your personal information stored on our servers. All newsletter subscriptions have been automatically terminated. No further actions are required by you.
We hope that you have enjoyed the Themestream service.
Sincerely,
The Themestream Team"