The layoffs have followed a $532-million net loss for the Austin-based company's fiscal year 2000. The figure is an increase from a $42.4 million loss at year-end 1999. Vignette had recorded a net loss in the fourth quarter of 2000 of $139 million, up from $5.6 million the same period last year.

A source with the City of Austin says the reported year-end losses may slow development of Vignette's proposed new downtown headquarters, but would not affect the $25-million incentive plan offered by the city. Vignette is in the process of completing plans for a new world headquarters in downtown Austin. The proposed project is to include two to three, 25- to 30-story office buildings, retail and a parking garage on the site. The project's first phase includes one building totaling nearly 750,000 sf.

In December, the Austin City Council had voted to rezone a five-acre tract downtown for the project and kick in a $25-million incentive package to encourage Vignette to move downtown as opposed to west Austin or the suburbs, where a comparable project would cost about $75 million less. The $25-million package calls for the city to reimburse the first $20.4 million in property taxes plus offer a waiver of $4.5 million in development fees. In exchange, Vignette must clean up an overgrown creek that runs through the property and widen Cesar Chavez and Red River streets, which access the site. Vignette expects the improvements will cost as much as $7 million.