paidContent.org - SEC Watch: WebMD To Cut Up To 5 Percent Of Staff

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Tameka Kee

paidContent.org
Tuesday, December 16, 2008; 4:07 PM

WebMD plans to cut its workforce between 4 and 5 percent, according to an 8-K filing. Severance payouts from the layoffs will add a $2.5 million restructuring charge to WebMD's books in Q4. The company said tech-based operating efficiencies are driving the staff reduction, as well as a push to trim redundancies from previous acquisitions.

The economy has dealt WebMD (NSDQ: WBMD) a number of big blows in recent months: its bid to acquire Quality Health parent MTS for $50 million blew up in November, right after its long-standing plan to merge with its own parent company HLTH Corp got scrapped in October. Then there's also the increased competition coming from the combined Revolution Health/Waterfront Media.