No More Net Envy

Industry Standard, The, Nov 6, 2000 by Joshua Hallford

Oct. 23 to 27, 2000 Over the third quarter, U.S. workers saw a little more in their pocketbooks. Spending on wages, salaries and benefits rose 0.9 percent, according to the Labor Department. But Internet employees -- once the icons of outrageous success -- still felt the squeeze of layoffs.

Starting as a light sprinkle in the second quarter and becoming a steady rain in the third, Net layoffs show no signs of letting up. The number of layoffs to date in October hit 2,514, down from September's total of 5,180, according to The Standard's Dot-Com Layoff Tracker.

But happy talk just keeps coming: Press release buzz about the Internet Economy was up 8 percent. And online buyers continued to feel flush: For the second week in a row, online shopping posted gains. Total e-commerce orders were up nearly 10 percent during the week.

Online retailer Amazon.com found its stock buoyed into the mid-$30s, after reporting higher sales and lower losses than expected. But all wasn't rosy for the book behemoth: The SEC has launched an informal inquiry into its accounting practices.

Overall Net stocks slid slightly. TheStreet.com'5 Internet Sector index closed Thursday at 560. In this climate, not a single Net company braved the IPO market.

The Internet Economy Index rates the week of Oct. 23 a 4.

STOCKS

Sickley Net Stocks. The Internet stock market is still hovering near its low for the year. Although the Nasdaq saw an upswing, led by a short-lived recovery in fiber-optic stocks, the tech rally wasn't strong-enough medicine for an ailing The-Street.com Internet Sector index, which closed the week Thursday down 5 percent.

CLOSING PRICE AS OF OCT. 26. INDEX TRACKS THE PERFORMANCE OF 20 PROMINENT INTERNET COMPANIES. SOURCE: BLOOMBERG

LAYOFFS

Heads Keep Rolling. Sites with trouble business models like eGreetings, Petopia and Stamps.com slashed their staff. At Petopia, 120 people - more than 60 percent of its workforce - were sidelined. And citing a slowdown in advertising revenue and a drive to cut costs, eGreetings nixed 60 jobs and saw its CEO walk. Stamps.com eliminated 240 positions.

CONFIRMED WEEKLY NUMBER OF LAYOFFS AT INTERNET-RELATED COMPANIES OR AT ONLINE DIVISIONS OF OFFLINE COMPANIES FOR THE WEEK OF OCT. 23. SOURCE: THE STANDARD