Newyork-based online tech news and analysis site, GigaOM shuttered down last week, claiming liquidity shortfalls.
“Gigaom recently became unable to pay its creditors in full at this time. As a result, the company is working with its creditors that have rights to all of the company’s assets as their collateral,” GigaOM’s management said in a short post on the website.
The website was launched by journalist turned VC, Malik Om in 2006 and has remained a big player alongside TechCrunch in the tech ecosystem until its shutdown last week.
The ecosystem has largely reacted in shock to the news of the shutdown, especially because the company did not appear to be short on cash. That GigaOM raised up to $8 million dollars in its last round of funding from 2014 only makes the story all the more shocking.
The news has kicked off a conversation on how difficult it continuously becomes for tech website to survive in the space that is becoming more crowded.
“When everybody from The Wall Street Journal to the New York Times to everybody else has doubled down on covering tech, what’s your value?” Rafat Ali, the CEO and founder of GigaOM-acquired travel site Skift, says in a report on WSJ.
It is curiously ironic that the firm which was on the bleeding edge of new media order, journalism and entrepreneurship turns out to seemingly not know how to navigate the space.
GigaOM is not sure what the company creditors will do with the platform and the company, but industry experts believe the site and its assets will likely be put on sale in the coming months.
