As we were going to press, CNN was reporting that Prodigy Services Co, the IBM Corp and Sears Roebuck & Co-owned online services company, is about to announce a restructuring. CNN reports that between 100 and 200 of its 700 employees will be laid off as a result. The service estimates that IBM and Sears have lost as much as $1 billion between them on the venture. As reported in Computergram (CI 2830), Sears wants $500m for its 50% share. Prodigy’s chief executive, at the same time, is seeking financing to help him buy the service outright. Prodigy has failed to win new subscribers, the majority of which has been going to market leaders, America Online Inc and CompuServe Inc. Prodigy declined to comment last night.
