Engage Shifts Marketing Focus; Cuts More Staff

Engage Inc., Andover, MA, plans to cut more staff and shift its focus to content management software for multichannel marketing.

As part of the shift, the company is negotiating with potential buyers for its media business which is being streamlined with the immediate elimination of 100 media-related jobs. Another 125 media positions will be cut if the company cannot find a buyer for its media business.

The last round of cuts began in January when 550 positions were eliminated, Engage spokesman Mark Horan said.

“Given the continued dramatic downturn in the advertising industry, Engage cannot sustain this media business at the expense of the far more promising software business,” said Engage CEO Tony Nuzzo in a statement. “We believe today’s decisive action will help us unlock the potential of Engage’s software business and establish a singular focus on the high growth opportunities we have identified.”

As part of its restructuring, the company discontinued its Engage Knowledge profiling service. The company does not plan to sell the service’s database of 88 million anonymous profiles, Horan said.

Engage markets software and is a majority-owned operating company of CMGI Inc.