Weeks after its acquisition of Synchrony Communications, Divine Inc. has laid off an undisclosed number of its employees in Blue Ash as part of a companywide cost-cutting program.

        Divine, a Chicago-based consolidator of what had been 29 separate software companies, bought Synchrony in October for $6.88 million. It then moved Synchrony's 84 employees from downtown to Blue Ash, where Divine had 200 employees at a unit formerly known as MarchFirst.

        “As a result of all of the acquisitions, on an ongoing basis we're reviewing our organizational skill sets in relation to the current and expected future demand of our products and services,” Divine spokeswoman Susan Burke said.

        “The decisions we've made about layoffs are market-driven,” she said.

        Ms. Burke did not provide the number of layoffs by late Thursday afternoon.

        Divine aims to become profitable in the third quarter of 2002 and is using head-count reductions to help reach that goal. The company has been losing money profusely during its buying spree. In the quarter ended Sept. 30, it posted a net loss of $85.8 million on revenue of $48.1 million.

        Mark Richey, Synchrony's founder and chief executive officer, is now senior vice president of marketing for Divine Software Services, one of Divine's three divisions. Mr. Richey remains in Cincinnati.

        Divine did not initially disclose what it paid for Synchrony in October, but made that information public in a subsequent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

        Divine gave Synchrony shareholders promissory notes with a principal value of $6.88 million. But the notes, which come due Dec. 31, are payable in either cash or with 5.5 million shares of stock. Divine's stock price closed at 72 cents Thursday, making the value of that block about $3.96 million.

        Synchrony shareholders also received warrants to buy a total of 2 million Divine shares for an undisclosed price.

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