Audiohighway Sinks After Slashing Jobs

Audiohighway.com (Nasdaq: AHWY)dropped 3/32 to 3/8 Thursday after the company said it laid of 21 of its30 employees.

The online entertainment and information company said the move is aimed atcutting expenses as it continues to seek partners and funding sources.

Audiohighway, based in Cuptertino, California, provides free access tomusic, audiobooks, news and other information in a variety of formats. Thecompany also sells music, videos, games, electronics and other products onits MassMerchandise.com Web site.

Earlier this week, Audiohighway reported a third-quarter net loss of $3.25million, or $1.85 per share, compared with a loss of $2.83 million, or$1.30, for the same period a year earlier. Revenue fell to $483,000 from$613,000.

Over the past year, company shares have traded as high as 13 1/4 and as lowas 1/4.

Audiohighway is among many companies struggling in an uncertain e-commerceenvironment. A PricewaterhouseCoopers survey issued this summer found thatfunding for e-commerce sites dropped in the second quarter even as venturecapital spending rose.

Business-to-consumer (B2C) sites saw just 11.6 percent of the venturecapital invested in Internet businesses, the study found, down from 19.6percent a year earlier.

Meanwhile, the list of casualties is mounting. A new report from Webmergers.com found that some 130 dot-coms have gone out of business since the beginning of the year, throwing about 8,000 people out of work.

Audiohighway’s news comes alongside a report from online financial news andinformation site TheStreet.com(Nasdaq: TSCM), which Thursday said it was laying off 20 percent of itsworkforce and closing its UK site.

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