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Business Briefs

Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire

Wednesday, February 28, 2001

Isle Internet firm sees layoffs ahead

WorldPoint Interactive Inc., a Honolulu-based Internet firm, said it is undergoing a restructuring that will result in layoffs, mainly in its research and development division.

The company, which has about 60 employees in Hawaii, must cut staff because of a downturn for technology issues in the stock market, said Ron Pettay, human resources director for WorldPoint. Pettay said the company, which translates Web sites into different languages for businesses, is also rethinking its lines of products and services. Founded in 1995, WorldPoint had planned to go public last year. The company got help getting started with a $580,000 state loan in 1996. Company officials say they are still negotiating pay back of the loan, which now comes to about $800,000 including interest.

Pettay, who spoke from California, would not specify how many layoffs would occur. The company's president Massimo Fuchs said he would be announcing details of the restructuring soon.

WorldPoint also has offices in Dallas, Zurich, San Francisco, Tokyo and Hong Kong, with a total of about 125 employees.

Speech to address Vietnam business

A top official from the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam will deliver a speech in Honolulu tomorrow that will address opportunities for Hawaii businesses in that country.

Dennis G. Harter, deputy chief of mission at the embassy, who has more than 30 years of diplomatic experience in Southeast Asia, will talk on "2001 Outlook for Vietnam: A U.S. Perspective" at a luncheon at the Hale Koa Hotel presented by the Vietnamese-American Chamber of Commerce, the Pacific & Asian Affairs Council and the state.

The cost is $22 for members of the Vietnamese-American Chamber and $25 for nonmembers. To register call the Chamber at 735-2602.

In other news . . .

BURBANK, Calif. -- Coca-Cola Co., the world's No. 1 soft-drink maker, said it will market juices and other drinks for children with Walt Disney Co. that feature Disney characters.