Lastminute is sold at big loss

THE travel website that became a symbol of the dotcom boom and bust has been sold at a massive loss for its US owner.

Holiday website Lastminute.com, founded at the peak of the dotcom boom by Martha Lane Fox and Brent Hoberman in 1998, has been bought by Swiss-based travel group Bravofly Rumbo Group in a £76m deal.

The sale has left owner US-based Sabre nursing a huge loss after it paid £577m nine years ago. Sabre, which also owns Travelocity, sold the website to concentrate on its core technology businesses which handle around a third of the world’s travel agency transactions.

Bravofly saw off competition from the likes of Expedia for the website which has operations across the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy. Lastminute.com expanded hugely in its first two years and listed in 2000 at 380p.

The shares spiked 35pc on their first day of trading to hit a high of 511p but fell back just months later to as low as 80p. It didn’t make a profit until 2003 when Lane-Fox stepped down as managing director.

The company helped its founders become poster children of the dotcom explosion. Lane-Fox left and set up karaoke chain Lucky Voice and became Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho last year.

Hoberman quit in 2006 and has since founded and invested in a number of internet companies including mydeco.com.