Basel news portal Barfi.ch in debt-restructuring moratorium
The Basel news portal Barfi.ch is running out of money: Following a ruling by the Basel-Stadt Civil Court, it is under «provisional debt restructuring,» as the portal posted on its website Wednesday evening.
More info was promised for Thursday. Optimistically Barfi.ch is pleased about the appointment of a custodian by the court, as this is a sign of confidence of the court to allow. This step permits to remain open for a partnership, is to be read in the twelve-line house message further. Indes is the portal already for quite some time on partner search, despite emphasizing a large on-line range of its own so far unsuccessfully. For months, Barfi.ch has been courting new advertising customers under the slogan "Solibarfi".
A dozen permanent employees
In January, a takeover by local TV station Telebasel had definitely failed. Negotiations had been fruitless, and the broadcaster called it off after looking at the portal's books. Barfi is on the brink with a dozen permanent employees and an annual budget of 2.4 million Swiss francs, as founder Christian Heeb had already told the Keystone-SDA news agency in February - he had once co-initiated the local radio station Radio Basilisk. The portal's income was insufficient; short-time work was also an issue.
Heeb launched his portal, including his own app, at the end of July 2015 as a network medium fully focused on mobile communication devices; this means it does not need a license. "Barfi" is the dialect abbreviation for Barfüsserplatz in the center of Basel's inner city. (SDA)
