Bokee.com has announced that it will lay off
one-quarter of its 400 employees and possibly change its business model, the
Russian newswire
Interfax says, quoting anonymous managers at China's largest commercial web-hosting
firm. The change comes three months after the company obtained a US$10 million
venture-capital investment, but a link is denied. Bokee.com is the
largest domestic host of weblogs in China.
Demand for paid hosting of weblogs has decreased dramatically now that free
services like MSN Spaces are making waves in a market claimed to have
more than 30 million weblogs.
"The entire blog market in China is not doing very well right now, and these
layoffs are a reflection of that," the Bokee.com director said.
