Software vendor Firepond cuts staff by 30%

Computerworld - Sales and customer service software vendor Firepond Inc. yesterday announced that it's laying off about 190 workers worldwide, or 30% of its workforce, as part of a restructuring aimed at conserving cash resources.

The Waltham, Mass.-based company said it will take a restructuring charge in its third quarter, which ends July 30.

"It essentially affects every operation we have worldwide," company spokesman Eric Snow said. In addition to its headquarters in Waltham, Firepond has operations in San Raphael, Calif., and Mankato, Minn., as well as in Japan, England, France, Germany and other countries.

Snow said the company had about 650 employees worldwide before the cutbacks.

Like many other companies, Firepond is cutting back on expenses to try to better position itself during the current economic slowdown, he said.

Klaus Besier, Firepond's chairman and CEO, said in a statement that the company is "taking this difficult action at this time in order to position Firepond for the long term in the face of a challenging market."

Denis Pombriant, an analyst at Aberdeen Group Inc. in Boston, said Firepond's software products are well built and seem to be successful wherever they've been used.

"It appears recently that they've been doing fairly well going after the health care market," Pombriant said. "It's the general economy bringing them to the need to reduce their workforce, not necessarily their product line."

In its second quarter, ended April 30, Firepond reported $12.3 million in revenue and a pro forma net loss of $14.6 million, compared with $13.6 million in revenue and a pro forma net loss of $1.9 million for the same quarter a year ago.



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