January 17, 2001 (Industry Standard) --
Further succumbing to the dot-com malaise, Internet health company Drkoop.com Inc. is handing pink slips to 45 employees, shuttering its Austin, Texas, headquarters and relocating to Southern California. The latest layoffs are a further setback for the new management team that last August took over the company co-founded by former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop (see story). The company will move its headquarters to Santa Monica, Calif., where CEO Richard Rosenblatt's Prime Ventures venture capital firm is located. "We want to be in a position so that we can partner effectively and leverage off the technology of others rather than continually spend [research and development] capital in building our own technologies that could very well be out of the date by the time we hit the market," said Drkoop.com President Ed Cespedes. In a statement, Drkoop board member and Austin venture capitalist Scott Hyten portrayed the moves as "an important step in the progress of Drkoop.com toward profitability." It could be a long march. Drkoop's managers so far have been unable to reverse the company's fortunes, and Drkoop risks being delisted from the Nasdaq Stock Market. On Tuesday, the company's stock was trading at 48 cents a share. Today it was up to 50 cents.
Reprinted with permission from For more news on the Internet Economy, visit The Industry Standard. Story Copyright 2008 The Industry Standard. All rights reserved.
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