Productopia, Kibu latest dot-com fizzles
Clark was one of the Silicon Valley heavyweights that poured $22 million into teen girl Web site Kibu.com in February.
On Tuesday, the web site closed up shop, joining product review site Productopia, Inc. as the second dot-com turned dot-bomb this week.
The employees hitting the bricks will join the more than 4,500 employees at Internet companies laid off since June, according to a survey by employment outsourcer Challenger, Gray and Christmas, Inc.
At Kibu, 65 employees will lose their job, according to Kibu CEO Judy MacDonald.
MacDonald wrote that "We were together for a year and built a great product in one tough market." The company has set up a Web site to post resumes from former employees.
Kibu launched in mid-1999 on the strength of $22 million from such Silicon Valley heavyweights as Clark, former Excite@Home chairman Tom Jermoluk, and venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
The site created such drawing cards as Kibu Faces which "provides insights and inspiration." It also offered Kibu Box, a direct marketing campaign.
Representatives for Clark and Kleiner Perkins did not return calls seeking comment. Jermoluk could not be reached for comment.
One investor, who did not want to be identified, said that although the site apparently had a "considerable amount of cash left," Clark and others decided to pull out.
The company decided to return whatever cash is left to investors.
"(Jim Clark) is a smart businessman, He's a no-nonsense guy who knows what to do," said one of the Kibu investors.
"They told us that they were closing and that's it. We're obviously disappointed, they had a great way to capture the attention of teen-age girls," the investor said.
At Productopia, staffers were apparently told of the decision on Monday and left without health benefits, severance or vacation pay, according to a former employee.
The company filled its pockets with $22 million in January from investors including former Compaq Computer Corp. chairman Ben Rosen.
Productopia had perhaps the industry's highest click-through rate, where as many as one in 10 visitors would click on advertisements on the site.
In June, the company laid off most of its production staff. It also stopped filling most of its openings, "firing through attrition," a source said.
On Monday, company executives were telling contractors to cash their checks quickly, according to a source.
The product review business has been hurting lately. Web site Deja.com last month laid off more than a third of its staff.
The pain isn't only at these two sites. More.com said it has laid off more than 30 percent of its work force in an effort to conserve cash, the company said.
It was the second round of job cuts this year for the online health and beauty-products store; in June, more.com reduced its staff by 20 percent through layoffs and attrition.