More than 200 dotcoms bit the dust last year, with up to 15,000 jobs lost worldwide.

Almost 60 per cent of the 210 closures took place in the fourth quarter - 40 Internet companies closed their doors in December, and 46 in November. In total they represented $1.5 billion of venture capitalist and private investment down the drain, according to Webmergers, a research firm.

Somewheer between 12,000 and 15,000 staff lost their jobs, but this doesn't include layoffs from dotcoms still in business.

California was hit worst when the bottom fell out of the e-biz market - 30 per cent of the closures last year were based there, while eleven per cent were in Western Europe, and ten per cent in both New York and Massachusetts.

The majority of the doomed companies were in the business to consumer sector (75 per cent), while 21 per cent were based on a B2B model. More than half were e-commerce outfits, with 29 per cent flogging content and 13 per cent in services.

High profile deaths included the likes of Boo.com, Pets.com, Eve.com, Clickmango.com, Boxman.com, and Foodoo.com. ®

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