Lastminute agrees £577m takeover

[Gareth]

source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/new...483084,00.html

The last major independent British dotcom business succumbed to America's online hegemony yesterday as Lastminute.com accepted a £577m takeover by Sabre Holdings, owner of US rival Travelocity.... Many of their contemporaries from the self-styled "neterati" saw their investments vaporise as the dotcom bubble burst just after Lastminute floated in March 2000, but the founders of the online travel business will scoop almost £40m from yesterday's deal.

Mr Hoberman, still the company's chief executive, said yesterday that he saw the deal as another chapter in the story of Lastminute. "I'm still standing. I am going to stay to run the [combined] business," he said. "I would hope that www.Lastminute.com will remain as an iconic UK dotcom."

It seems unlikely, however, that Ms Lane Fox, who quit as the company's managing director in late 2003, but remained as a non-executive director, will have a major role in the combined business. Ms Lane Fox, who was badly injured in a car crash while on holiday in Morocco a year ago, will have to resign her directorship when the deal is completed.

I've never thought of lastminute being iconic - unless I'm referring to a hyped-up website that fails to deliver anything of any value. The few interviews I've read with Lane Fox suggested to me that she wasn't as entrepreneurial as she nor the press made out.