The Walt Disney will shut down its money-losing Internet portal GO.com with the loss of 400 jobs, writing off $800 million.
Analysts estimated that Disney's Internet group lost about $395 million last year and have projected a narrower loss of $100 to $150 million in 2001.
Disney's Internet Group employs 3,600 people, including catalog operations, with about 120,000 workers worldwide in the entire company.
Since the start of year, Mr Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, AOL Time Warner, and the New York Timeshave cut hundreds of jobs due to a weak climate for online advertising.
Disney said it will continue to focus on the Internet, especially its more successful Web sites like ESPN and ABCNEWS.com.
Shares in Disney Internet traded as high as $37.50 after the launch but had lost 90 per cent of their value in the past 12 months.
Reuters