Portal to adopt restructuring plan
By : Roseanne Gerin
Poland.com (http://www.poland.com)s supervisory board will adopt a restructuring plan for the financially struggling English-language portal at the end of the month, Robert Stupak, Poland.coms marketing and public relations manager, said last week.
Telecom and energy group Elektrim (http://www.elektrim.pl) controls 75% of the portal, while venture capital firm MCI Management (http://mci.com.pl) owns the other 25%. Officials from both firms sit on the portals supervisory board, although Elektrim as majority shareholder will cast the decisive vote. The date of the meeting has not yet been determined, Stupak said.
Under the first option, Poland.com would continue to develop its English-language home page and expand into international markets, Stupak said. The second option would see the development of an Internet service provider along with the continuation of the portals services. Both plans could be adopted together as the portals new strategy, he said.
In addition, Poland.coms staff would be reduced from 70 workers to about 40, Stupak said, but added that the number was not yet definite.
Ewa Bojar, Elektrims spokeswoman, said she had no information about the next meeting of Poland.coms supervisory board and that Elektrim would not comment on the matter until a decision had been made.
When asked about the costs of the two restructuring schemes, Stupak would only say that the written plans probably contained detailed financial information. The four Elektrim officials who sit on Poland.coms board accepted (the plans) in a positive way, he added. Elektrim had not accepted previous restructuring schemes that the portals board presented earlier this month.
