DesktopLinux.com: How is MandrakeSoft
doing financially? You had a rather large layoff last year — what
areas were affected, what projects or initiatives were curtailed or
delayed? How close is the company to profitability? What is the
financial outlook?Duval: The layoffs mainly affected the people who were
developing our “e-learning” activities. Now that we’ve refocused
our efforts specifically to Linux, e-learning is a secondary
concern. We also have cut all the big salaries in the company.
We’ve preserved our development and services staff, which are the
essential parts of the company. Our recent IPO was quite small, yet
nicely accepted, and it permitted us the luxury of cutting costs in
many areas instead of just laying off people! Financially speaking,
we’re doing better and better with each passing month:
MandrakeStore is very successful as well as the Mandrake Club, and
we plan on reaching “break-even” by September 2002 and on being a
profitable company in 2003. By the way, MandrakeSoft stock can now
be easily purchased in the USA on the OTC Market (Symbol:
MDKFF).”