Martha Lane Fox ducks the limelight

£150k PR job available to wipe the mud off Lastminute

By Team Register, 4th July 2000

Lastminute.com's sweater girl, Martha Lane Fox, is sticking her head back below the parapet. The company is recruiting a head of spin to buff up its image.

Lastminute has struggled to fill the post and is expected to have to offer £150,000 or more, says the Daily Mail, to get someone for the job.

Perhaps it was being ignored by the kids at last week's Tomorrow's World Show that put Martha off public life.

Cable & Wireless has invested $20 million in dotcom backer GorillaPark. GorillaPark has offices in London, Amsterdam, Munich and San Francisco, and is set to open for business in Paris and Stockholm. It reckons it can handle to 20 start-ups a year and bring them from idea to IPO within two years.

Letsbuyit.com will list on the Frankfurt stock exchange next week. The company said that it could raise up to E134 million through the float selling at between E6 and E7 per share. The company postponed its plans to float. A Frankfurt banker pointed out to the FT that the resurgence of dot.com IPOs doesn't mean that the market is any more supportive, just that they are badly in need of cash.

Eidos, the computer company that gave the world Lara Croft, is considering an informal £700 million all share offer from French software group, Infogrames Entertainment. This would value the company at around 700p per share, compared with a market value of 487p. Infogrames is looking to boost its sales figures for the year ending June 2001 to £600million or $1 billon. Negotiations are said to be at a delicate stage, but an announcement may come in the next three weeks after the completion of due diligence.

Planit Holdings, the interior design software company, saw profits leap thanks to TV programmes such as the BBC's Changing Rooms. Planit reported pre-tax profits for the year ended April 30 rose 58 per cent to £2.5 million.

Internet incubator fund Oxygen Holdings is hoping to sell remaindered books to online buyers. In return for £25,000 cash and Web design services, it is gaining 15 per cent of Global Remainders.com. It aims to grab a share of the remainder market, which it claims is worth a stonking £5 billion worldwide. ®

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