UPDATE: Impact of Europ@web closures still unclear
- Added:
- Jan 31, 2001
Other offices facing the axe are those in Munich, Madrid, Barcelona and Milan, which would leave only the company with a presence in only Paris and San Francisco. 20 employees are said to be facing either redundancy or relocation.
In London Michael Liebreich would not confirm whether he was still employed by Europ@web, having been appointed as Europ@web's UK MD in mid-July 2000. It is believed, however, that Liebreich will play a role in the wind-up of the London office.
A Europ@web spokesman refused to comment, but confirmed that the Wall Street Journal story, which broke the news yesterday [30 January 2001], was substantially correct.
The WSJ reported Europ@web CEO Bernard Giroud as saying the downsizing was part of a plan to align Europ@web's activities with those of Suez Lyonnais des Eaux (SLE). Giroud replaced Chahram Becharat as Europ@web CEO in December, shortly after SLE bought a stake in Europ@web in late November 2000.
It is understood that the realignment would see Europ@web concentrate new investments on internet technology and wireless rather than b2c, but it is not clear how this may affect existing investments in this area.
Among Europ@web's UK b2c investments are person-to-person betting site flutter.com, OFEX-traded e-auctioneer iCollector, QXL and music site peoplesound. It also has a substantial minority stake in website construction technology company Moonfruit, which targets businesses as well as consumers.
Ernesto Schmitt, CEO of peoplesound said he was unaware of the changes at Europ@web, but was confident that the loss of the London office would not adversely affect his company. Schmitt said that peoplesound was in no immediate need of funding and that the company had “an excellent relationship with Europ@web”.
David Stevens, CFO of Moonfruit, said that the company would miss the social and networking events organised by Europ@web's London office, but Steven's added that the company's previous investment rounds had come directly from Paris, which was “supportive and bullish about Moonfruit's prospects”.
Steven's said that Europ@web's enthusiasm for Moonfruit, catagorised by Europ@web as an enabling technology company, would be shown shortly by the announcement of another round of funding.