Study: 210 dot-com companies closed in 2000

The dot-com casualty count seemed like headline fodder for weeks during the latter months of 2000. Now a new study confirms that approximately 60% of the dot-com deaths occurred during the fourth quarter of the year as funding quickly began to dry up.

In total, 121 of the estimated 210 dot-com deaths in the year 2000 happened between October and December, according to a study released Wednesday by Webmergers.com. At least 40 Internet companies shut their doors in December and another 46 called it quits in November.

Those shut down in December had received $1.5 billion in venture capital funding and other private and public investment dollars, the study reports. At least 25% of the December shutdowns are seeking to sell their assets or to reorganize through bankruptcy filings, Webmergers.com found.

Of the dot-com deaths, about 75%, or 157 companies, offered products or services primarily for a consumer audience. Another 21% had a business clientele, and the remainder had a blend of both. E-commerce companies accounted for 109 shutdowns or just more than half the total closures. Content-based properties made up 30% of the total deaths, while infrastructure and online service companies made up the remainder.

Webmergers.com reports that between 12,000 and 15,000 dot-comers lost their jobs because of the company closures. Just more than 30 percent of the shutdowns took place in California, while New York and Massachusetts each accounted for nearly 10 percent of the dot-com closures. Western Europe took more than 11% of the brunt.

Webmergers.com, in San Francisco, can be reached at 415-564-2500 or at http://www.webmergers.com/.