Mike Jervis and Nick Wood, partners at Grant Thornton, have been appointed as joint administrators by the High Court today.
The company, founded by former BBC Radio 1 DJ Peter Powell, has been unable to raise more money having spent its way through £13m since it was launched in 1999. The company famously paid £5m to become the first sponsor of the Top 40 music charts.
The administrators stressed that Worldpop was not another dotcom disaster, but rather a "well-managed, sophisticated direct marketing operation".
Worldpop had already scaled back its operations. It launched as a pop music news portal for teenagers and has repositioned itself as a youth marketing company.
Earlier this year, Worldpop raised a further £5m in its second round of funding and bought direct marketing company Trinity Street Direct. The acquisition was designed to strengthen Worldpop's growing marketing and audience research business.
According to the administrators, Worldpop had revenues of £2.1m in 2000 and it is on track to become cash positive and profitable during early 2002. Its clients include many blue-chip brands such as Budweiser, Procter & Gamble, Kodak and Sony and all the major UK record companies.
Jervis, who is head of London Insolvency at Grant Thornton, said, "This is not another dotcom disaster -- Worldpop is a well-managed, sophisticated direct marketing operation and the potential of its marketplace is outstanding; SMS use is expanding at the rate of 180% per annum and Ovum forecast that UK wireless marketing will be worth £1bn a year by 2005."
The company is trading normally while the administrators continue discussions about further funding for the company or a purchase of the business.
Worldpop had already been hit by the departure of its founders and senior directors. Powell stepped down from his chairman's post earlier this year to become vice-chairman. Charles Levison, the deputy chairman of media group Chrysalis, took his place. In August, it lost its managing director Liam Hamilton, the former managing director of London Weekend Television.
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