Cellcom cancels plan to purchase NetKing
Israeli wireless provider
has announced that it will not be acquiring veteran Internet company
.
Following this decision, NetKing CEO Yonatan Ben-Artzi announced that the firm is to cease its portal activities.
The proposed deal became public knowledge on January 18, 2001. Although the exact scope of the proposed acquisition was never disclosed, it is believed to have been worth less than $500,000.
The collapse of the acquisition signals the end of the road for NetKing. The company has closed its most important asset Radio NetKing, after failing to find a buyer. The firm has sold off 50% of its children's portal
TheStreet Recommends
(Hebrew site) to its partner
. NetKing is left with just one asset, its online advertising firm
, which is a Hebrew site. Both Cellcom and NetKing are part of the
group. Discount Investments is now left with only two main Internet ventures: an e-commerce retail company called XXL, which has also failed, and
, into which XXL is to merge.
