Commtouch to Cut 50% of Staff

Commtouch(CTCH Quote) will fire about 50% of its workforce and retain 190 employees in a cost-cutting effort designed to ward off the current economic downturn -- an announcement that sent the company's stock to a 52-week low.

Shares of Commtouch slid to 88 cents in Nasdaq trading today, the lowest price of the last year. The stock rebounded to end the regular session at $1.03, but dropped back to $1 in after-hours Island action. The high for the year is $68.50.

The company, which provides outsourced integrated Web-based e-mail and messaging services to businesses, said the current global economic environment required the company to sharply reduce expenses to maintain its financial position.

Commtouch, which is based in Netanya, Israel, will reorganize to focus on e-mail and messaging services, enterprise messaging migration and integration technologies and the development of next-generation messaging applications.