The451.com announces closure

Sylvia Westall, brandrepublic.com, Tuesday, 16 October 2001, 1:10pm,

LONDON - The451.com, the news, technology and media website, has announced its closure in a move that reflects the current downturn in the new economy.

The subscription-based site was launched during the dotcom boom in April 2000, covering the technology and new-media makets.

With offices in New York, San Francisco and London, the editorial team was made up of experienced journalists, including staff from the Financial Times and Sunday Business. All 25 staff will lose their jobs.

The site was operating in a crowded market sector, competing against the likes of FT.com and Silicon.com, and failed to gain enough subscribers to survive. Yesterday members of staff were told of the site's closure, but even today, new content was being added to the site.

Technology investor Durlacher, which was the majority shareholder, issued a statement this morning and said its holdings in The451 had a book value of £500,000 as of the end of last month.

According to a spokeswoman for Durlacher the closure was a result of the "general downturn in the economy" and that "there have been other similar cases" of website closure.

This article was first published on brandrepublic.com