Oversee.net, a Los Angeles-based Internet company, announced Thursday that it has laid off 38 employees nearly a fifth of its workforce in anticipation of what it says will be a difficult economic environment this year.

The cuts hit employees in Oversee’s offices in Los Angeles, Florida and Oregon. The company did not break out the layoffs for each office, but said the bulk occurred in Los Angeles where most of Oversee’s workforce is located. Oversee had previously cut 10 percent of its workforce in August.

President Jeff Kupietzky said most of the cuts occurred in new ventures and business units that had become less profitable, such as Web sites built around mortgages and ring tones. He said Oversee had started to see “weaknesses” in advertising but that its core business of buying and registering Internet domain names remained strong.

“Given the tough economic situations, we are coming back to the basic strategy of our businesses where we have a leadership position or intend to have a leadership position,” he said.

The company, which was started out of a USC dorm room, parlayed the business of registering Internet domain names into a multimillion dollar operation, mostly through advertising revenue. The company raised $150 million from Oakhill Capital Partners in January, and reported around $200 million in revenue in 2008. Kupietzky said the company has no debt.

The cuts will not impact Oversee’s Domainfest conference in Los Angeles at the end of this month. Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Wozniak is scheduled to deliver the keynote address.