• October 20, 2008

Male-oriented entertainment site Heavy.com has cut 14% of staff, or 12 people. The latest cutbacks follow an earlier round of layoffs in June in which Heavy reduced its workforce from 105 to 80. As of today, the company said it has 57 employees.

"Given the current economic downturn and related uncertainty in its industry, Heavy today reduced its staff by 14%," according to a statement from the company. "With its premium Heavy Men's Network platform serving 23 million young men per month in the U.S. alone, and profitable International operations in Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia, Heavy is strongly positioned for any dip in the advertising market."

Launched in March, the Heavy Men's Network features Heavy.com and properties action sports community BNQT.com; Flash gaming portal Newgrounds, Inc., Quincy Jones's QD3 and Vidshadow, Inc.

The layoffs at Heavy follow on the heels of 40% staff cuts Thursday at ad network AdBrite, highlighting the growing number of Web companies retrenching as a result of the economic slowdown and shrinking ad spending.--Mark Walsh