One of the latest dotcom closures to hit Hong Kong came in early
September as daily news website itdaily.com and its sister print
publication, Internet Asia, ceased operation following months in the
red.
The two-year-old website and five-year-old monthly magazine were both
published by Regent Pacific. The September issue of Internet Asia, which
was still in its production stage, was discontinued.
The imminent closure came as no surprise to most employees. Sacked staff
told MEDIA that advertising sales had been lacking for some time.
"Actually we were expecting this to happen for a long time. The sales
people were unable to sell ads and we kept hearing rumours of (a)
closure, so it was only a matter of time. Perhaps it was the fault of
bad management, or lack of it," one disgruntled employee said.
From August last year to June, the company faced an entire staff
turnover.
Previous editors of the two publications had complained of a lack of
resources and quality staff to produce the solutions-based, technical
magazine.
It was not clear what compensation would be given to staff and
advertisers.
Singaporean brothers KM Lim and KH Lim, who also hold senior posts at
SiS International Ltd, a major Asian distributor of computer hardware
and software, jointly ran Regent Pacific.
