IXL Finds a Buyer for Its S.F. Office

Feb 28 2001

Internet consulting firm iXL, in the midst of a reorganization, is finalizing the sale of its San Francisco operations to regional information technology consultant Neovation, ending a month-long search for a buyer in the hopes of saving the office from shuttering for good.

Neovation CEO Greg Waldbaum, former iXL Western regional VP and general manager of the company's San Francisco office, told iXL's employees Wednesday that Neovation plans to close the deal by the end of the day, according to iXL managers present at the meeting.

The Denver-based consulting firm will take on 40 of the office's 45 employees in creative and marketing services as well as an engineering group, Waldbaum told iXL staffers. The iXL employees, who already have signed letters of intent to work for Neovation, will serve clients whose projects were acquired by Neovation, including the spring relaunch of Virgin Atlantic's site. IXL will retain the other five employees to work on several smaller-size projects it will not sell.

IXL spokesman Bill Getch said that because his company is still in talks to sell its San Francisco office, he could not comment on the situation. But sources with knowledge of the transaction confirmed that iXL is negotiating with Neovation. Terms of the deal have not yet been released.

Atlanta-based iXL is undergoing a widespread reorganization aimed at reviving the company after a brutal year that included layoffs of 35 percent of iXL's staff in December and January. The San Francisco office lost about two dozen employees, and approximately 850 staffers companywide lost their jobs.

On Wednesday, iXL stock lost 9.09 percent, or 13 cents, to close at $1.25.

In a series of events earlier this year that were unrelated to the acquisition of iXL's San Francisco operations, Neovation and iXL hired the same man for an executive post within weeks of each other before each rescinded their respective offers. In early November, iXL hired James Gionfriddo as the company's COO, only to learn that several weeks earlier he had accepted the post of CEO with Neovation. After Gionfriddo's actions were discovered, neither company allowed him to assume an executive position.