BroadVision Narrowing Its Focus
A sharp drop off in IT spending has hurt software and portal application
developer BroadVision Inc. , forcing the company to
cut 300 jobs and restructure, officials said Wednesday evening after the bell.
Reporting first quarter 2002 results to Wall Street, Dr. Pehong Chen,
BroadVision president and chief executive officer, said the business revamp
is a necessary one while waiting for the enterprise customer relationship
management (CRM) industry to pick up again.
“The first quarter was challenging, as customers continued to delay IT
spending on broad new initiatives,” he said. “In response, until
conditions improve, we are sharpening the focus of our investments to
concentrate on opportunities in the enterprise business portal space. We
believe targeting this type of application will enable us to demonstrate
the unique advantages of our portal solution…”
The 670 employees left at BroadVision will need to pick up the pieces of a
once-popular Silicon Valley start up. Revenues of $30.5 million are only
one-third of the funds coming into the company only a year ago, though net
losses in the first quarter of 2002 have dropped, from $55.3 million to
$36.1 million.
Once a company with international clout, with a worldwide clientele in
countries like London
and Germany,
the company is drastically cutting back on its international presence.
Before announcing its financial results Wednesday, the company announced it
would de-list its shares running on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, effective
in three months.
“While we have been pleased with our listing on the Neuer Market,
unfortunately, given our recent restructuring efforts, we feel it is
prudent to take this action at this time, Chen said. “I would like to
reiterate that, as a company, we remain very committed to the European
market and this action will not affect our relationships or support of our
European customers and partners.”
BroadVision currently trades on Nasdaq, hovering Thursday morning between
$1.00-1.10 per share. If the company dips below $1 for 30 consecutive
days, it could find them de-listed from another stock exchange.
Chen believes the situation is only a temporary one, and points to a list
of companies worldwide signing up for BroadVision services.
“With hundreds of portal customers and what we believe is the only portal
solution that integrates content management, commerce and personalization
technology, BroadVision is well-positioned to extend our market
leadership,” he said.
