Excite UK, which is a joint venture between BT and Excite@Home, will close at the end of this week with the loss of 48 jobs. Excite@Home announced two weeks ago that it will close on February 28, after AT&T withdrew its £215m bid for the broadband ISP's cable assets.
Excite UK has been looking for additional investors for several months and last month it revealed that if it did not find a buyer it would close.
In a statement, the company said: "Having completed a 30-day consultation period with employees, Excite UK regrets that it is to make all 48 staff redundant as a result of the closure of the portal, www.excite.co.uk."
Excite blamed the closure of the site on the downturn in online advertising. Managing director Rebecca Miskin said, "It is unfortunate that the global downturn in media advertising has negatively affected Excite UK's financial performance."
Given the climate, Miskin signalled some weeks ago that she believed the site could close. "Based on this, and the short time period in which to identify a buyer, I have to acknowledge the possibility of the closure of Excite UK," she said at the time.
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