Situation looking bleak for Ventro

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIF. - Despite Ventro's best efforts to revamp its marketplace software and services, the future appears to be dimming for the marketplace pioneer.

That's the consensus of industry experts on the heels of Ventro's announcement last week that three executives - COO Robin Abrams, CFO James Stewart and Vice President of Marketing Martha Greer - will leave the company by the end of March. Ventro, a business-to-business marketplace provider, announced the departures at the same time it issued dismal fourth-quarter and fiscal 2000 results.

Ventro reported no revenue for fiscal year 2000. Losses totaled $618.1 million for 2000, compared to $48.6 million a year ago.

"It's kind of sad over there, but I'm not surprised [Abrams and Stewart] left," says Tim Clark, an analyst at Jupiter Research. "Talented people aren't going to stick with Ventro."

Founded in 1997 as Chemdex, a life science marketplace, the company last year changed its name to Ventro and formed a parent company to run Chemdex and other industry marketplaces.

Analysts say Ventro's troubles came to a head last December when it decided to close Chemdex and Promedix, a medical products marketplace, cutting 235 jobs. Instead of continuing to run marketplaces, Ventro overhauled its business to provide software that develops marketplaces. Approximately 270 employees remain.

Lisa Williams, an analyst at The Yankee Group, blames some of Ventro's woes on Wall Street.

"Whenever a company undergoes a radical change in their business model in response to market concerns, it's like undergoing a heart transplant - you're not going to get well right away," she says.

One Ventro user sees a silver lining in the company's troubles.

"[Ventro] is going through a transition, and you need to expect this kind of stuff," says Charlie Waters, an Industria Solutions executive. Ventro's situation "is good for us because they'll concentrate on us."

Ventro: www.ventro.com