Industry Standard’s Parent Trims Staff 7%

The company behind the Industry Standard, a fast-growing technology magazine, laid off 7% of its staff in the latest sign of the sobering times gripping the once-exuberant “dot-com” sector. Standard Media International trimmed 36 workers from its payroll in anticipation of an advertising slowdown this year, company spokeswoman Alissa Neil said. The job cuts were concentrated in the San Francisco-based company’s marketing, Internet production and conference marketing divisions. In November, the Standard’s total ad pages dropped by 12% from the previous year, ending a long run of impressive gains, according to data compiled by the Publishers Information Bureau. Despite the late-year drop-off, the Standard’s ad pages through the first 11 months of 2000 had more than doubled, generating revenue of $150 million, almost quadrupling 1999’s revenue of $38 million, according to the bureau.