OREM — MyComputer.com, which cut a third of its work force in early December, let go of another 20 employees Friday with the closure of the Internet advertising portion of its business.
The job cuts will take place over a month, but several employees left the company when the announcement was made, chief executive officer Josh James said Friday. He said the laid-off workers will be provided outplacement support and termination packages.
The company had about 120 employees, but cut about 40 in December following a downturn in the market and the falling-through of the company's acquisition by a Web site building company, NetObjects. California-based NetObjects had planned to acquire all of the privately held shares of MyComputer.com for $51 million of common stock and cash and pay up to $6 million in additional shares of common stock based on the future performance of the Orem business.
A few other employees left after the December job reductions, and Friday's actions will leave the company with 45 employees.
"December's ad sales were great, and they had been for 12 months," James said. "Actually, they had been for two years, but then from December to January, there was a 70 percent decrease in ad sales.
"Everybody saw that across the board on the Internet. So the business that was supported by that went from being profitable to unprofitable. It had been providing a couple of million dollars annually in net profits but went to losing us enough in one month that we knew it would continue."
January typically is a slow month for all advertising, following an ad-heavy holiday season. But James said Internet advertising isn't expected to get the historic rebound in February and March. "It will return, but not with a big bounce," he said.
Making the job cuts was a difficult decision, he said. "It's unfortunate the way things have to be carried out."
Privately held MyComputer.com was founded in 1996. Its core business remains a subscriber service that allows companies to track and analyze Web site visitation.
"This (Internet advertising) was more of an ancillary business," James said. "The core business is doing extremely well, and the increased focus will help us concentrate on that business."
The company expects to get more financing in the first quarter of this year and see an overall growth in its current 10,000-member subscriber list. Revenues from that core business should grow at least 300 percent and perhaps 400 percent this year, he said. "We expect to be profitable by December," James said.
He certainly is not doubting the company's future.
E-mail: bwallace@desnews.com