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* MicroStrategy Inc., whose shares have fallen 96% in the last year, said it will fire 600 employees, or a third of its work force, after the software maker’s first-quarter loss was wider than expected. MicroStrategy will close offices in north Virginia and combine them in one office in Vienna, Va., where it’s based. The company said it will take an unspecified second-quarter charge. The company, which hasn’t had a profit since it sold shares, said it expects the cost cuts to save $70 million to $85 million a year. MicroStrategy shares rose 41 cents to close at $2.97 on Nasdaq.

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* Wine.com has fired 160 of its 245 employees and embarked on a “streamlining plan,” the company said. The Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported that the Napa, Calif.-based company, unable to find additional financing, already is $10 million in debt and soon could be forced to seek bankruptcy protection. Wine.com, a closely held company backed by such investors as Amazon.com Inc., venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and the New York Times Co., had hoped to dominate online sales of wine but has run into a thicket of regulations governing the sale and shipment of alcohol.

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