Drkoop.com’s latest transplant: the entire headquarters – from Austin, Texas, to Santa Monica, Calif.
The troubled health content site announced yesterday that it would shed 45 employees, put its oxygen tank on wheels and go West.
The company also said it would vote on Jan. 25 to decide whether to go for a 10-for-1 reverse stock split to get its shares out of the Nasdaq drop zone.
CEO Richard Rosenblatt, a former Excite@Home executive, says he can cut the company’s burn rate to less than $1 million per month in an effort to squeeze the most out the $20 million raised last August.
Drkoop.com already shares an office in Santa Monica with Rosenblatt’s VC company, Prime Ventures. A spokeswoman in Austin said yesterday that some Texas staff are being offered the chance to relocate to the pharmaceutical corridor near the company’s Philadelphia office.
Ed Cespedes, president of drkoop.com, considers the Austin offices a legacy from the days when Drkoop.com was trying to create original content. “Drkoop.com will now be focused on creating alliances with highly qualified and trusted partners . . .” he said. “We anticipate that those partners will be providing technology, comprehensive health content, hosting, health management tools, exciting new innovative health management solutions and new distribution channels.”
Rosenblatt also talked of “leverag[ing] opportunities that are not limited to the Internet, includ[ing] a ‘bricks and clicks’ portfolio of partners and offerings with multiple revenue sources including license fees, subscription fees, revenue sharing, sponsorships and advertising.”
Shares in Drkoop have plunged to 40 cents from a 52-week high of $17.12.
Yesterday the stock closed up 6 cents, or 15.38 percent, to close at 47 cents.
Drkoop execs have filed papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission saying they intend to make their case at a Nasdaq hearing to prevent the company from being bounced to the Over the Counter bulletin boars.