Web Consultant iXL Enterprises to Cut 35% of Work Force in 2nd Restructuring
ATLANTA -- In its second major restructuring in three months, iXL Enterprises Inc. said it will cut 35% of its work force, sell several units and take an unspecified fourth-quarter charge.</br></br>The Web consulting company said that by shedding 850 more employees, closing several offices and selling some business units it can focus on its biggest customers and become profitable in the first half of 2001. The company said it will concentrate on about 75 major clients -- down from 300 currently -- and target the areas of financial services, travel and retail and consumer packaged goods.</br></br>Chairman and Chief Executive U. Bertram Ellis said the latest moves go much further than the 350 layoffs and management shuffle he promised would turn the company around in September.</br></br>"We did not cut deep enough. We cut the fat out of the system, but we did not change the company," Mr. Ellis said of the previous restructuring. "This time we've changed the company. It's a very, very radical step that would be sufficient even under our worst-case scenario."</br></br>Mr. Ellis said that by slashing the company's costs, iXL will be able to operate profitably on revenue from its largest customers. The company's top 75 clients currently generate 90% of the company's sales, he said. Mr. Ellis conceded that the moves will slow iXL's revenue growth, which in the past often exceeded 35% in successive quarters. He declined to predict what the company's growth rate will be in the future or to specify how big the fourth-quarter charge will be.