First Tuesday bought out by Israeli concern

First Tuesday, a website which nurtures other people's business encounters, made a deal of its own, with its sale announced yesterday to Israeli investment company Yazam.

In a statement, First Tuesday said its brandname would be kept and it would operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Yazam to be run by Mr Reade Fahs, chief executive officer of First Tuesday.

No financial details were disclosed, although the Financial Times said the deal was understood to be worth £33.5 million sterling (€54 million) in cash.

First Tuesday was founded in 1998 by three students in a bar in Soho, central London, as a meeting place for entrepreneurs. It grew into a network spanning 85 cities and 42 countries.

Yazam, which specialised in early-stage investment, was launched in 1999 and has offices in Jerusalem, London, New York, San Francisco, Tokyo and Washington.

Its chief executive officer, Mr Yaacov Ben-Yaacov, commented: "Yazam's strength in developing start-ups is an excellent match to First Tuesday's global community and its experience in connecting entrepreneurs with people, ideas, services and relationship which they need to make their businesses grow."

Mr Fahs added: "This merger is great news for the First Tuesday community, with tangible benefits for all its members. Investors will benefit from new alliances that help create more successful investments."

But commentators took a less sanguine view, saying the sale was symptomatic of the growing feeling that it might be time to sell Internet start-ups.

First Tuesday has been operating in Ireland since last September, and employs three people on a full time basis. It was one of the first First Tuesday centres to establish outside London, and has 4,000 registered members. It has extended its events since then to Belfast and Limerick, and Cork will begin hosting First Tuesday in September.

First Tuesday Ireland says it was aware of negotiations to sell the group, but it had not expected an outcome so soon. According to general manager, Mr David Neville: "In the interim we expect both the Yazam and First Tuesday brands will co-exist, and over the next couple of weeks I imagine we will travel to London for a briefing where the longer term strategy will become clearer."