N2K to Cut Jobs, Take Charge in 3rd Quarter

N2K Inc., the No. 2 online music company, said it is tightening the focus of its Internet music business and will take a third-quarter charge of as much as $7 million for cutting jobs and other costs. The company said its N2K Encoded Music label will promote artists and releases that are popular with Internet users and will cut marketing and promotional costs. N2K executives declined to disclose how many jobs will be cut. The New York-based company made its initial public offering of shares at $19 each in October. N2K wants to draw more consumers to its Web site amid heated competition from No. 1 online music store CDnow Inc. and top online bookseller Amazon.com Inc., which recently began selling music. Analysts expect N2K to post a third-quarter loss of $1.19 a share and a full-year loss of $4.65. The news left N2K shares unchanged at $12.69 on Nasdaq.