CMGI-backed media exchange reduces staff

OneMediaPlace, an online exchange for advertising space, cut its staff by 30 percent Tuesday, a spokesman for the company confirmed Wednesday.

The CMGI-backed company laid off 39 of its 130 employees, said OneMediaPlace spokesman Patrick Paterson. The layoffs affected departments across the company in both its New York and San Francisco offices, Paterson said.

OneMediaPlace, known as Adauction.com before it changed its name in April, plans to chop its overhead in coming months as it prepares to outlast the hostile capital markets. For CMGI, which invested $25 million in OneMediaPlace last spring, this is the latest of its holdings forced to scale back operations.

AltaVista, Engage and iCast--three other Internet companies in which CMGI owns a majority stake--have also announced layoffs in recent weeks.

Like most other venture capital companies, CMGI has been hammered by its e-commerce investments. As investors have fled Internet stocks, many companies are running out of money and withering.

Last year was a much different story, as investors could hardly contain their enthusiasm for tech plays. CMGI was among those that rode that wave to haul in large gains. The company posted a net income of $452.7 million, or $2.12 a share, in the fourth quarter last year.

Those gains were wiped out by CMGI's fourth quarter this year, when the company posted a net loss of $633.7 million, or $2.17 per share.