DEN Layoffs

One week after replacing its two top executives, Internet entertainment start-up Digital Entertainment Network laid off between 50 and 60 employees, according to a company insider. The layoffs reduce the Santa Monica firm’s work force by 15% to 20%. The staff reductions were aimed at controlling costs at a company that had ballooned from 60 to 300 employees in less than a year, the insider said. A DEN spokeswoman did not return a call seeking comment. DEN’s new top management, Chairman Gary Gersh and Chief Executive Greg Carpenter, already instituted a plan to cap executive salaries at $175,000--typical for a Net start-up, but far below the million-dollar salaries that had drawn criticism. Last week, DEN announced it had raised $24 million from investors including Intel and Chase Capital Partners and would drop plans to raise $75 million in an initial public offering.