Cnet lays off more staff

NEWS Online news and information provider Cnet is laying off more staff, blaming weak advertising sales. A further 15 per cent of its workforce are set to leave the company - following the 10 per cent who were made redundant in February. Cnet posted a loss of $218m for its second quarter, up from $167m for the same period last year. Advertising sales fell 30 per cent. Shelby Bonnie, chief executive of Cnet, blamed the problems on "a deep and prolonged slowdown in the economy". He said the company remained confident in the long-term future of internet advertising but was still experimenting with different formats. Registered users were up to 6.8 million from 5.4 million at the end of 2000. Daily page views were up to 38.4 million - an increase of 26 per cent. The media company also cut predictions for its second half.