During the next year, the company continued to raise additional funds, gain more customers, and lose money on each customer. In August 2000, the telephone company Verizon agreed to purchase 55 percent of the company for $800 million paid in installments. The total funding that NorthPoint had obtained by the end of 2000, including the partial payments received from Verizon, added up to $1.2 billion. By the end of the year, NorthPoint was in 109 cities and needed to spend $66 million in cash per month just to stay in business. Verizon withdrew from the purchase agreement, the stock plunged, and the layoffs began.