By Chris Gaither, Globe Staff, 1/30/2003

SAN FRANCISCO — With senior editors, columnists, and programmers, Lee Schlesinger and his bicoastal crew have everything they need to produce a technology news website — except an employer.

Laid off from their Cambridge and San Francisco offices in July and this month, the dozen former CNET Networks employees see few prospects for finding new jobs in an economy that has decimated the information-technology sector. So they turned to the place where everyone from antiques dealers to owners of California towns turn when they have something to peddle: eBay.

"Complete staff of ZDNet Tech Update, formerly a vital division of one of the top ten highest-trafficked sites on the Web, currently available to instantly implement professional Web site or print magazine," the listing read, asking for a commitment of annual salary and benefits "in the high six figures."