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Hoping its $40.6 million net loss in the third quarter of 2001 is the end of a string in financial losses, Micron Electronics announced its rebirth as a pure-play Web hosting company Thursday.

Gone are the PC divisions, which were dragging the company deeper and deeper into the red. It's HostPro Web hosting division, combined with the August completion of its acquisition of Interland, that is expected to put the company back in the black and running efficiently, officials said.

Joel Kocher, Micron chairman and chief executive officer, said if it wasn't for the ISP and PC divisions holding it down, the quarterly results would have been much different.

"We believe the continued decline of the PC industry, and the significant impact of that decline on our PC sales and margins, validate our decision to exit that business as rapidly as possible," Kocher said. "We believe that is was the best possible strategic move for our shareholders."

It's Web hosting division brought in 7,400 new accounts in the third quarter, reducing its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization loss from $12.5 million in the second quarter of 2001 to $8.1 million.

Net revenue for HostPro remains flat, however. Revenues of $15.4 million in the third quarter are only $5.2 million over the third quarter last year.