Top Execs Flee Commerce One

Three weeks after announcing an 81-percent drop in revenue and cutting 530
jobs, B2B play Commerce One Inc. said that its president and COO as well as
its chief financial officer are leaving the company.

The Pleasanton, Calif.-based company has seen its stock
drop from a high of $331 a share at one point in 2000 to 80 cents today.

And when the top execs start bailing out, it’s often a sign of a company
entering the B2Z market – business to zero.

Commerce One said that Dennis H. Jones,
president and chief operating officer, will leave the company and resign his
board seat effective June 30. And Peter Pervere, senior vice president and
chief financial officer, will retire from his primary duties as of May 31,
but will remain in a consulting capacity.

Commerce One Chairman and CEO Mark Hoffman will reassume the title and
responsibilities of president and the company will not replace Jones.
Commerce One also named VP/controller Chuck Boynton to the post of senior
vice president and chief financial officer, succeeding Pervere.

The Internet’s long winter of discontent and the concomitant slowdown in IT
spending has
made times really difficult for e-commerce integrators.

Ariba Inc. , for instance, lost $154 million or 60 cents a
share in its second fiscal quarter. Commerce One reported a first quarter net
loss of $220.6 million, or 77 cents a share, compared to a loss of $228.5
million, or $1.02 a share the previous year. Revenue nose-dived to $31.8
million from $170 million.

Commerce One makes software and services for creating electronic
marketplaces. It has never made any money and last year it lost $11.08 per
share on revenues of $408 million, according to Multex Investor.