Sounds like LiveJournal might be on its way out:
The bubble in social networking has burst, decisively. LiveJournal, the San Francisco-based arm of Sup, a Russian Internet startup, has cut 12 of 28 U.S. employees — and offered them no severance, we’re told.
[ . . . ]
The company’s product managers and engineers were laid off, leaving only a handful of finance and operations workers — which speaks to a website to be left on life support.
Ouch. It’s entirely unsurprising – there are only so many investors in the world willing trade something for nothing – but it’s still a bit sad. LiveJournal – started in 1999 – can lay claim to being part of the foundation upon which online social networking was built. Further, it provides the infrastructure on which a number of unique shared-interest communities depend (however, that sort of ecological frailty is not a good idea). I hope that its users can find a new home (preferably one that doesn’t depend on an unsustainable business model).