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Disney confirms Go.com death

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400 staff out on the street

By Linda Harrison in New York • Get more from this author

Posted in Business, 29th January 2001 23:30 GMT

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The Walt Disney Co has confirmed it is to kill off its Go.com Net portal.

The move will result in around 400 layoffs, mostly in Sunnyvale, California, and the company will take a Q2 charge of around $800 million. It is also looking to sell the Go.com name and InfoSeek search engine.

The announcement comes just weeks after Rupert Murdoch's News Corp said it was shutting its online division, while the New York Times also said it would cut back on its Web operations.

The Disney Internet Group will continue under its current management but is destined to become a business unit of Disney, while all outstanding shares of Disney Internet Group will be converted into regular Disney stock.

"The Internet continues to be a central focus of our company's business strategy," said Michael Eisner, chairman and CEO. "We believe this action should help us gain greater competitive advantage as we leverage Disney's creative content, brands and other assets." ®

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