12/18/2002 -- According to Jim Stapleton, head of investor relations for ProsoftTraining, the company is no longer looking for a buyer for its assets.

Stapleton told CertCities.com yesterday that Prosoft, which owns and runs the Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW) certification program, realized that the strategy to sell the company's assets would not work after negotiating with "several" potential buyers, whom he declined to name. He said that because of the depressed market, the company could not get an asking price that would "return enough value to shareholders."

"I think that if the parties were willing to [pay more], we would have gone through with the sale," he explained. "We feel we can bring more value to our shareholders by cutting costs and growing sales in an effort to return to profitability."

This new strategy is led by new Chairman and CEO Robert G. Gwin. Gwin, who previously served as Prosoft's president and CFO, replaces Jerry Baird, who resigned last week. Baird served as Prosoft's CEO since June 1997.

In its latest quarterly SEC filing, the company said it now has enough cash to continue through the third quarter of its 2003 fiscal year, which ends March 31. Previously, the company said that it only had enough cash to continue through December of this year.

In a conference call regarding its Q1 results filed last Friday, Gwin said this improved cash position was due to increased cost savings. Gwin said that the company plans to further improve its bottom line through layoffs and and consolidating office locations, as well as increased focus on the educational market.

Gwin also said that it's his goal to return to the company to profitability by June 2003. -B.N.