Collapsed Boo.com rises again

Boo.com, the internet retailer whose spectacular collapse heralded the bursting of the e-commerce bubble, is to be resurrected in Britain six months after it failed.

Boo.com, the internet retailer whose spectacular collapse heralded the bursting of the e-commerce bubble, is to be resurrected in Britain six months after it failed.

The retailer, which set out to sell trendy sportswear with disastrous financial consequences, has been bought by an American e-tailer to be turned into a fashion advisory site.

Fashionmall.com is based in New York and sells designer clothing and accessories. It plans to launch the new version of Boo.com on its main website in Britain and America this autumn. The company paid £250,000 to liquidators earlier this year for the Boo.com brand and the rights to uses its distinctive font, logo and shapely digital assistant, Miss Boo.

Boo's founders, the Swedish entrepreneurs Ernst Malmsten and Kajsa Leande, called in the receivers in May after the two-year-old firm ran up debts of £178m. The collapse, which was followed by a rapid deflation in the stock price of nearly all companies set up to benefit from the e-commerce gold rush, was blamed on poor financial management.

But Fashionmall.com executives believe the high profile of the Boo.com trademark makes it valuable. A spokeswoman said: "Boo is a brand which still retains tremendous global awareness. There is not another website like it."