NBC Internet, NBC's online media arm, is slashing its work force again, cutting back by 30% to eliminate 150 jobs.
NBCi announced the planned staff reduction - its second this year - on Thursday, citing a shortfall in online ad revenue as the primary factor. The move means NBCi will effectively slash its workd force in half. NBCi had announced a 20% cutback in August, affecting approximately 100 jobs.
NBCi also slashed its revenue forecast for 2001 from $150 million to $100 million. The company reiterated its expectation to be profitable by the fourth quarter of 2001 or the first quarter of 2002.
"We are determined to reach profitability within the same time fram we reported at the end of the third quarter 2000," said NBC Internet CEO Will Lansing in a prepared statement. "But to reach this goal, we needed to make difficult decision on the operational side of our business to account for the challenges within the online advertising market."
NBCi executives were unavailable to comment further on the move. An NBCi spokeswoman declined to quantify the size of its current ad revenue shortfall.
NBCi becomes the latest Web media player to declare plans to pare back its staff. News Corp. recently announced major cutbacks among its Web workers, and job cuts unveiled by CNN this week are expected to severely affect its CNN Interaction operation.
- Richard Tedesco
