Scoot.com, a British Internet directory service whose fortunes have skidded, said Wednesday that its top executives would quit and that it would cut 285 jobs as it struggles to survive with only three months of cash reserves in its coffers.
A rescue package, offering a sale of new equity and a redefined quest for the elusive key to wringing money out of the Internet, failed to convince investors, who sent its stock tumbling by as much as 68 percent, to 2.25 pence (US$0.0318), a fraction of its peak of 351.5 pence in March last year. Shares of Scoot.com closed at 3.5 pence (US$0.0495).
Earlier this year, Vivendi Universal, which has a 22 percent stake in Scoot.com, offered to buy out the rest of the company for 15 pence a share, or about US$151 million. But Scoot.com rejected the bid as too low. Vivendi said Wednesday that it would take a US$241 million charge on its stake.
Scoot.com has been in trouble for months and, in March, started a strategic review of its businesses, which provide directory services for businesses and individuals looking primarily for small businesses, said Edward Cowdrey, a spokesman for the company.
Analysts were generally skeptical about Scoot's survival plan, saying that the company had put forward proposals that would not increase revenue.
Scoot said it would introduce new charges for both business and individual customers for access to its services.
It said that its chief executive, Robert Bonnier, and chief financial officer, Ronald Dorjee, would both resign, and that the company would hold an extraordinary shareholders meeting to seek approval for the issue of 155 million shares to repay outstanding convertible debentures.
Scoot.com also said it would "restructure" a continental European joint venture with Vivendi Universal. The company said that it might also sell Loot, a classified advertisement business it bought for US$283.4 million last year.
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