Excite UK Closes With 48 Redundancies

Excite UK is closing with the loss of all of its 48 staff after failing to find a buyer.

The company, which has been looking for additional funding since being cut off by its shareholders, BT and Excite@Home, announced that it will cease normal trading at the end of this week.

Announcing the closure, which comes at the end of thirty day consultation period with staff, Excite UK’s managing director, Rebecca Miskin, said: “The decision to cease trading is both unavoidable and deeply regrettable. Our priority is to our users and our employees and to ensure that the closure is managed in an orderly fashion.”

Excite’s US parent company, Excite@home, filled for bankruptcy in October and the company’s other shareholder, BT, said that it would sell its own 42% share in the business rather than take up its option to buy the remaining stake from Excite@Home.

Until recently Excite UK insisted that it had enough cash to trade for the next 12 months and remained confident that it would secure additional funding. However, the worsening economic climate has weighed heavily on the internet portal, which was largely reliant on advertising revenue.

Excite’s closest rival Yahoo! has also been affected by the advertising downturn and recently announced 400 redundancies worldwide as part of a cost cutting programme (see Yahoo! Cuts 400 Jobs Worldwide).

Excite UK: 020 7447 1800 www.excite.co.uk

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