Disney Shutter's Go Portal
15 August 2006
Walt Disney said Monday that it will discontinue operations of
its troubled Go.com Web portal, becoming the latest big media company
to fold its Internet efforts back into core TV businesses.
Go.com's entire work force, about 400 employees, has been laid off
with the closure, said Disney spokeswoman Susan Murdy.
The layoffs will shut down the portal's Sunnyvale, Calif. office,
where the majority of its employees were based. The laid-off employees
were given severance packages that included 60 calendar days of
pay and benefits, according to one source.
In addition, Infoseek, a search engine in which Disney acquired
a controlling interest in 1998, will likely disappear if the company
can sell its technology to a third party, Murdy said.
The company may also sell the site's traffic, giving the rights
to redirect people who visit Infoseek to another Web site, she added. Disney's
decision follows similar moves by other big media companies.
Creating hub Web sites to vault people to other content sites may
be an ill-fated strategy, analysts say, adding that Web users, like
TV viewers, go to brands they trust.
About
Internetrix
Internetrix is an internet development and consulting company. We work closely with the three levels of
government, membership based organisations and throughout the private sector,
providing services such as creative, implementation, performance & infrastructure.
Disclaimer
The articles and items released on this website are for historical purposes,
and are accurate at the time of release. For assistance, please contact Internetrix on +612 4228 6464.
