Metricom Inc., provider of the high-speed Ricochet wireless Internet
service, Monday filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection, mere days after it laid off 23 percent of its staff.
“As a result of the depressed state of the capital markets, we have been
unable to raise necessary additional capital,” said Interim Chief Executive
Officer Ralph C. Derrickson. “Consequently, management and the Board of
Directors decided this action would be in the best interests of all of
Metricom’s stakeholders. Although there are certainly many challenges ahead,
we believe that the prospects for our outstanding technology remain strong.
We will continue to work hard to preserve the value inherent in our
technology, while evaluating the options before us.”
The firm filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in San Jose, Calif., and said it
will seek to restructure its operations and debt obligations while
maintaining operation of the Ricochet network and providing services and
access to its resellers, channel partners and direct customers. The company
retained the law firm of Murphy Sheneman Julian & Rogers.
As part of the effort to reorganize the company, the board appointed Kevin
I. Dowd to the newly created position of chief restructuring officer. Dowd,
a principal of Nightingale & Associates LLC, is a corporate turnaround
specialist who has served as an outside advisor to Metricom for the past
several weeks. He will now oversee the restructuring efforts and evaluate
options for financing its continuing operations, as well as looking into
other strategic alternatives.
“It is clear to me that Metricom’s wireless Internet access product is
viable and that its Ricochet service offering provides the fastest mobile
wireless communications solution on the market today,” Dowd said. “The
company believes that today’s filing is the best means to preserve these
assets moving forward.”
The announcement is the latest in a string of bad news from Metricom. Last
Tuesday, the company cut its staff by 139 employees, leaving 451 to run the
show. In March, the company cut 179 jobs and announced a few weeks later
that it only had enough cash on hand to last through August, despite strong
investment support from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and WorldCom.
Metricom stock has lost more than 40 percent of its
value in the past few weeks. It was up 5.2 percent to $1.82 in late
afternoon trading Monday.
