A dotcom drop-off?

A recent study commissioned by Cisco Systems, a maker of Internet-networking equipment, found that nearly 2.5 million US workers earned a living directly from the Internet last year, up from 1.8 million in 1998. The Internet generated almost $524 billion in revenue in 1999, a jump from $322 billion the previous year. The fastest-growing facet of the Internet: e-commerce, whose revenue shot up 72 percent to $171.4 billion.

Researchers predict the Internet economy could top $1 trillion by early next year. But trouble may loom. "Many dotcom companies are being faced with a cash-flow crisis," says John Challenger, of Challenger, Gray, & Christmas, adding that companies that provide funding to dotcoms are demanding "profit models." The international outplacement firm reports that dotcom companies announced 654 jobs cuts in May.

(c) Copyright 2000. The Christian Science Publishing Society