BigBand to Lay Off 15%, Kill CMTS Platform
Cites Move to Focus on Video Networks After Reporting Q3 Results
By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 10/30/2007 1:37:00 PM
BigBand Networks, as part of reporting third-quarter earnings Tuesday, said it will cut its work force by 15% -- which the company said is about 100 employees -- and announced it will discontinue its Cuda cable modem termination system.
BigBand last reported having 576 employees in 13 offices worldwide.
For the quarter ended Sept. 30, BigBand reported revenues of $38.5 million, 10% lower than the year-ago period, with a net loss of $12.2 million compared with a net profit of $1.6 million in the third quarter 2006. BigBand last month issued a warning that its third-quarter revenues would be off by as much as 40% from previous expectations, and the company has since been targeted by shareholder lawsuit claims.
“Since our revised guidance announcement, we have reevaluated our business, reviewed our market opportunities and conferred with our customers,” BigBand president and CEO Amir Bassan-Eskenazi said, in a statement. “We have decided to focus on our unique core competency -- video -- and no longer commit resources to the Cuda CMTS platform.”
As part of the company's restructuring efforts, David Heard has been appointed chief operating officer. Heard, who previously was BigBand’s general manager of product operations, will now assume combined responsibility for research and development, marketing, sales, services and operations.
BigBand’s third-quarter results include $5.8 million in fixed assets and inventory charges associated with the retirement of the Cuda CMTS platform. In the fourth quarter, the company expects to incur one-time charges associated with restructuring in the range of $3 million to $5 million, which includes employee severance and lease-termination costs.
BigBand said that for the fourth quarter it projects net revenues to be in the range of approximately $27 million to $33 million, with a loss per share in the range of $0.31 to $0.22.
