[BusinessTeam] deja.com go bye-bye (will be sold)

Message-ID: <6B75EF096AE0BE428B8CEDEA89C5F6327822AA@exchange01.lab49.com> · Mon Oct 16 20:04:16 2000 UTC

== Deja.com Sale Imminent == 

Exactly one month after canning 50 employees in a cost-cutting move,
Silicon 
Alley buying portal Deja.com is on the verge of being sold, company 
officials disclosed today. 

An insider familiar with the negotiations said a deal has already been 
hammered out for the outright sale of Deja.com's Usenet service. "We will 
tie up the loose ends on the first sale by the end of this week," a 
top-level source told atNewYork this morning. 

"We are selling the company in two parts. Our Usenet, archive and search 
service will be sold separately from the precision buying service," the 
source said. "Both deals will be completed within a few weeks." 

He declined to provide details regarding the buyer or terms of the 
acquisition, but sources say the deal will be a combination of cash and 
stock. "Things are fast and furious right now," he added. 

Deja.com began life as a central Web-based gateway into the millions of
free 
Usenet discussion group postings on the Net, offering integrated searching

across to thousands of user-generated newsgroups. Then, the company
decided 
to take that traffic and establish a Web ratings service, with product 
reviews written by consumers. Traffic grew, but stagnated. The company 
pulled plans for a $57 million IPO and went to work refiguring its
business 
model. 

Immediately after pulling the public offering, Deja.com pocketed $12.5 
million from a group of private investors, but there has always been 
rumbling that all was not calm at the management level. 

Fran Columbus, Deja's president, suddenly quit the post in a shroud of 
secrecy and a spate of layoffs followed. Columbus' profile suddenly 
disappeared on the company's management page and her responsibilities were

assumed by CEO Tom Phillips. 

Then, in mid-September, roughly 35 percent of Deja's staff received pink 
slips. Employees in the sales and marketing departments were hardest hit
by 
the layoffs. 

"I don't think it is fair to say that the sale of the company is a 
culmination of the recent layoffs. We made the cuts to be leaner and more 
efficient and with a view to a possible sale. We have found a good deal
and 
we will sign a deal very, very soon ... Before the end of this week," the 
source said. 

Deja's remaining employees will be incorporated into the staff of the
buyer, 
he said, making it clear there will no major personnel changes. The
official 
would not comment on the future of Deja.com's principals. 

It is believed that the company's employees would go to work for the
buyers, 
but there has been no final decision yet. 

Alex Chang 
Co-founder 
nano.com 

212.430.3704  (work) 
212.430.6374  (fax) 
alex@nano.com (email) 

www.nano.com 

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