Wired workforce firm bought for $10m

Cash-strapped firm home and dry...

PeoplePC, the company behind wired workforce schemes at Ford and Delta Airlines, has been snapped up by US ISP Earthlink for $10m. PeoplePC had also clinched contracts to provide home computers to workers at Bertlesmann, Ingersoll, the New York Times, Powergen, Severn Trent Water and Vivendi. Despite lucrative contracts the company had been struggling recently, with cash reserves falling from $22m in December 2001 to $11m by March 2002. In a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, PeoplePC said that available funds might "not be sufficient to fund operations for the remainder of 2002".