Lante Lays Off 80

Lante

Contributing factors include "follow-on work that was expected for two energy clients that did not materialize; downward pressure on the company's billing rates; and unanticipated delays with a few accounts including Lante's largest client," Lante CEO Rudy Puryear said in a statement.

About 80 employees will be laid off, leaving a staff of about 200. The e-services company projects a loss, excluding charges, of about $4.8 million on sales lowered from a previously expected $11.5 million to $7.5 million. Lante closed trading Thursday at the $1 mark, but shares were down about 10 percent, to about 91 cents per share in Friday morning trading.

Lante bet big on B2B but found itself in a sea of integrators struggling to deal with sharp declines in market demand and revenue amid increasingly uncertain economic conditions. In June 2001, Lante shifted its focus from B2B to business-partner integration services.

This latest round of restructuring follows an organizational shakeup in January aimed at leveraging its acquisition of assets from Luminant Worldwide Assets. Lante reported this week it has recovered the $2.6 million paid for the receivables balance obtained from the recent acquisition of Luminant.

Meanwhile, the January shakeup found Mark Tebbe, Lante founder, stepping down from his position as chairman of the board. Lante appointed John C. Kraft, a member of the board since its creation, as its new chairman.

Other organizational changes made in January include the establishment of an energy industry group based on clients such as British Petroleum acquired with Luminant. The company also established a national sales organization and eliminated the position of COO, held for the last year by John Corsiglia.