Audiohighway.com Announces Layoffs

Audiohighway.com (www.audiohighway.com), announced that it has laid off 21 of its 30 employees.

The layoffs are designed to bring expenses in line with revenues, according to company officials. The company is continuing to look for long-term strategic partners and funding sources, and hopes to be able to continue operations in the meantime with its skeleton staff.

Audiohighway's stock is currently trading at around $.37 a share, down from around $12 a share at the beginning of the year. The company reported an operating loss for the third quarter of $3,273,000, on revenues of $483,000. The yearly loss to date is $12,099,000, on revenues of $1,980,000.

In 1999, Audiohighway reported a total loss of $12,672,000 for the year, on revenue of $1,952,000. While the company has managed to achieve the same level of revenue for 2000 in only 3 quarters, the ratio of profit to loss has not improved.

In April of 1999, Audiohighway purchased Mass Music's (www.massmerchandise.com, assets -- an online music retailer -- to add an e-commerce aspect to its business model. The company also recently announced an agreement to sell legitimate downloads of Universal's music, and has licensed music video content from Warner. Warner owns a small equity stake in Audiohighway.

Nonetheless, it has proven difficult for Audiohighway to monetize their position as a portal for streaming and downloadable audio and video content on the Web.