By Sean O'Brien

September 19, 2000

Hardcloud.com, an action-sports Internet site located in San Clemente and San Francisco, California, has ceased operation and has laid off its entire staff of approximately 60 employees.

The development, which occurred this morning, was result of the company�s inability to find a second round of financing. �We decided to stop before we drove over a cliff,� said one Hardcloud.com employee.

Just how much financing the company needed remains unclear.

�I am out of mind that a team this strong and with such a depth of talent could have come together just when the Internet financial pool is being sucked dry,� said another Hardcloud.com employee.

It was speculated that a Hardcloud/Swell merger was in the works, but yesterday Swell.com told Hardcloud that such a merger wouldn�t occur.

�We�d like to find some way to leverage what we�re doing so everything we have and have worked to create doesn�t go to waste,� said a Hardcloud employee.

On September 8, the company launched a surf and skate e-commerce component that offered products and apparel from more than 60 manufacturers, including Billabong, The Realm, Planet Earth, Birdhouse, and Independent.

This announcement comes just a week after Bluetorch.com cut half of its staff of 120, including all of its Internet and print-media employees, to focus on its television program, Bluetorch TV.