Paris-based entertainment giant Vivendi Universal announced plans to cut 150 jobs, or 50 percent of the workforce, from the combined Uproar Inc. and Flipside, as it moves to make the entity profitable by the end of 2001.

According to the Reuters newswire, Vivendi Universal, whose subsidiary Flipside purchased Alley-based Uproar for $140 million last month, plans to cut the positions as it rolls both online games companies into one entity. Each company employs 150 people at the moment.

Vivendi CEO Jean-Marie Messier made the announcement at a London new media conference late Monday. AtNewYork was unable to reach Vivendi Universal or Uproar for confirmation or further details.

The merger has been in the works at least since early February, when Flipside acquired Uproar for $3 a share for all outstanding common shares and predicted combined revenues of $70 million in 2001.

The purchase enabled Flipside to add Uproar, iwin, and other popular games sites to its network of advertising-supported interactive games sites. As part of the deal, Uproar chairman and CEO Kenneth Cron joined Vivendi as chief executive of Flipside while Flipside president and COO Emmanuel Schalit retained his current role.

Recently, Uproar posted fourth quarter losses of $5.3 million (13 cents per share), narrowed down 63 percent from $14.3 million (60 cents per share) in fourth quarter 1999. Meanwhile, revenues were up 145 percent to $12.5 million from $5.1 million for the same period.

The company said that its improved financial performance was a key factor in Vivendi's generous acquisition offer. At the time, Uproar's stock price was valued at $2.

During a Q&A with atNewYork last November, CEO Ken Cron said: "Uproar has been on a very consistent path to achieving our revenue goals. Our advertising model continues to show strong and consistent growth and our suite of advertising products has proved to be attractive to both online and offline advertisers."

At the time, Cron predicted that Uproar would achieve profitability by the 4th quarter of 2001, a claim that Vivendi's CEO echoed during his announcement on Monday.

During early going today, Uproar's stock price remained unmoved from yesterday's closing of $2.97.

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