ExciteAtHome Cuts 27 Percent of Work Force

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – Fighting for survival, broadband Internet provider ExciteAtHome is closing its marketing services division, scaling back the Excite portal and cutting 500 jobs -- 27 percent of its work force.

The company said Tuesday it is shutting down its MatchLogic subsidiary, which is based in Westminster, Colo., and has 200 employees. About 300 jobs will be lost at the Excite portal as it drops services less popular with users, such as its shopping and games pages.

Excite's search, instant-messaging service, e-mail and news and financial content pages will be untouched, spokeswoman Estela Mendoza said.

Shares of At Home, which does business as ExciteAtHome, were down 2 cents, nearly 6 percent, to 31 cents on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Nasdaq has warned the company it faces a possible delisting.

The company has sold off several properties in recent weeks as it tries to reduce costs and finance operations into 2002. Chief executive Patti Hart has said the company plans to focus on its cable-access business, which counts 3.7 million subscribers.

Cable-modem seller At Home Corp. bought Excite in 1999 for $6.7 billion in one of the biggest deals of the dot-com boom. Excite has been badly hurt by the downturn in Internet advertising and the decrease in its popularity. Meanwhile, the At Home side of the business has been more costly than the company anticipated.

ExciteAtHome is controlled by AT&T Corp., which owns 23 percent of its stock and has a 74 percent voting stake.