In anticipation of its announced shutdown on February 28, 2002, Excite@Home let 400 employees go Friday with more on the horizon.

The layoffs leave some 900 people to close up the shop. Excite@Home says eventually everyone will be let go as different portions of the company are shut down.

The bankrupt portal and broadband provider says the job cuts are a part of the company's plans to keep its cable service running another three months.

The @Home service was ordered shut by a federal bankruptcy court. A $355 million plan by five cable companies (Cox Communications Comcast Corp., Insight Communications, Mediacom Communications and Mid Continent Communications) is helping keep the lights on at this point.

All are in the middle of hastily assembling a ISP service to replace the @Home network, a process that can take weeks to accomplish.

The company's number-crunchers expect the broadband Internet service provider (ISP) to cost $50 million a month to operate, conservatively speaking. That leaves $205 million to split between @Home bondholders and creditors.

The Excite portal is being sold to Bellevue, Wash.-based InfoSpace. Inc. for $10 million.

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