Motley Fool Cuts Jobs as Part of Restructuring

Motley Fool Inc., which has prided itself on providing straightforward investment advice during the stock market boom of recent years, has laid off 115 workers, or roughly one-third of its work force, as part of a corporate restructuring.

Founded in 1993 by brothers David and Tom Gardner, the privately held firm has strived to make investment advice entertaining, with the brothers often wearing jester’s caps when appearing on television .

The Motley Fool, which offers many of its services online, has struggled in recent months along with other Internet content providers. The restructuring includes the shutdown of Soapbox.com, a personal finance and investment site run by Motley Fool.

The layoffs will affect employees in the U.S. and Britain.

In another sign that volatile conditions in the stock market continue to have a ripple effect, TheStreet.com (TSCM) said Thursday that it posted a loss of $24.6 million in the fourth quarter of last year.

TheStreet.com said the loss, which was related to charges from shutting down its British operation and other write-downs, compared with a loss of $11.8 million a year ago.

Revenue for the quarter rose to $6.3 million from $5.1 million.

TheStreet.com also announced that Michael Golden, vice chairman of the New York Times Co., stepped down from TheStreet.com’s board of directors. In addition to shutting down the joint newsroom it had with TheStreet.com, the New York Times also sold its minority stake in TheStreet.com.

For the year, TheStreet.com’s net loss expanded to $62 million from a loss of $33.6 million in 1999, while annual revenue rose to $23.3 million from $14.3 million.

TheStreet.com’s stock rose 6 cents to close at $3.56 in Nasdaq trading Thursday.