Space.com, the Web site founded by former CNN business anchor Lou Dobbs, is reorganizing and firing 22 staffers, becoming the latest online company to announce a retrenchment.
The job cuts, which represent one-fifth of the company's work force, are being made as the company integrates operations from several other space-related Web sites it has acquired, including SpaceWatch.com, Starport.com and Explorezone.com.
The company is also revamping its structure into several business units including publishing, software and broadcast. Dobbs said Friday the cuts would be made across departments.
In an interview, Dobbs said the reorganization was unrelated to the departure this week of the company's president, former astronaut Sally Ride, who said she would be getting involved with science education projects for girls.
Despite the firings, Dobbs said the company plans to make another "sizable" acquisition, though he wouldn't say how much the company planned to spend or how much it had already spent.
He also declined to say how much the company had left from the $60 million it raised from investors, but he insisted that Space.com had "a very strong cash position" and wouldn't need more capital until some time next year. Dobbs said he expects Space.com to become profitable by the end of 2001.
Several other dot-com companies have announced retrenchments this week. MTVi, the online arm of Viacom Inc.'s MTV music network, said it was shelving its IPO plans and firing 105 people, or one-fourth of its staff, and three online companies in Seattle laid off a total of 173 people in just two days.
Other content-driven Web sites such as Salon.com have also announced cutbacks recently, and others such as Pseudo.com and Word.com have closed outright.
Space.com has been hit by several executive departures in recent months. In addition to Ride vacating her post as president, the editor in chief and vice president of broadband have both left. The creative director has submitted her resignation but is reconsidering, a spokeswoman said.
In addition to its Web site, Space.com has launched a consumer magazine, Space Illustrated and acquired Space Business International magazine from a London investor.
