BBC axes 40 commercial Internet staff

Beeb Ventures chief exec Turner ankles

By ERICH BOEHM

LONDON -- BBC Worldwide, the BBC's commercial arm, is cutting half of the staff at its Internet shopping site Beeb.com to save money.

In addition to the 40 layoffs, Julian Turner, the chief exec of BBC commercial Internet division Beeb Ventures - which consists of Beeb.com and ISP Beeb.net - has quit.