General Magic Posts Another Loss, Cuts Staff

General Magic Inc. posted its 11th straight quarterly loss and fired 80 of its 280 employees. The Sunnyvale-based software maker said it will take a fourth-quarter charge of $2 million to $4 million to cover the firings. The company said its third-quarter loss widened to $12.4 million, or 48 cents a share, from $5.1 million, or 20 cents, for the year-ago quarter. Revenue dropped 77% to $754,000 from $3.23 million. Results include charges of $1.5 million from the company’s July acquisition of Conterra Inc. and a write-off of software technology. The company said it would have lost 42 cents a share without the charges. General Magic writes programs that look for information or perform tasks automatically for computer users. Its stock fell 12.5 cents to $3 on Nasdaq.