• by Masha Geller , June 12, 2001

I hate to write about this type of thing, but I feel it's my duty to tell you that California-based ad serving company AdForce is officially out of business as of yesterday (in case you ever dealt with them).

My calls for comment to company officials did not yield any response, but one voice mail, that of Business Development Director Michael Feinberg, states, "I hate to tell you this. Effective the week of June 11th, Adforce is shutting down its operations. If you are an existing client, we will be providing limited customer support for the next week or so."

Quite a contrast from the company's website (which is still up, although all fax numbers seem to be disconnected), which says, "Today, we can deliver your ads to cell phones, PDAs, pagers, set-top boxes, cable, satellite TV, radio, point-of- sale terminals, and kiosks, as well as to web-linked PCs. Soon, we'll extend your marketing reach to pay phones, vending machines, gas station pumps, and in-vehicle GPS units."

Could it be that they took on too much, too quickly?

I don't' have to tell you that AdForce is neither the first nor the last of the somewhat substantial dot-coms to collapse. According to Webmergers.com, a firm that tracks dot-com closings, Internet shutdowns showed no sign of letting up in May. The number of shutdowns hit 54 in the month, just one collapse less than the number at this same point in April. April's toll has since risen to 58 as news of additional shutdowns has, as usual, surfaced after the month's close, Webmergers said. May is now tied with January for the third grimmest month since the shutdowns began. Webmergers also says, "this past month marked the one-year anniversary of month in which the dot-com death march began in earnest." Last year, just two months after the stock market began its tumble, May saw the number of shutdowns surge to 13 from only a single fatality in April 2000. At least 493 substantial Internet companies around the world have shut down since January of 2000, about 55% of those falling in the first five months of 2001.

Any bets on who's next?

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