Individual Investor Group Lays Off 20% of Its Staff

Individual Investor Group(IIGP Quote), publisher of business magazine Individual Investor and its Web site, individualinvestor.com, laid off 20% of its editorial, production and business staff today.

CFO Gregory Barton said the company made the decision in an effort to "make the business more efficient and significantly improve the operating margins of the company."

Among the layoffs were two of the three editors on the Web site, two analysts and one person partly responsible for maintaining individualinvestor.com's community boards. Several technology support positions were also eliminated.

Employees were told the news today and were provided with a minimum of two weeks severance pay, Barton said.

Shares of the company rose 5% today to 66 cents.