Homepage  |   E-mail this article  |   Print

---

---

Advertisement

8:43 am, April 15, 2009
Walsh returns to online retail

By Michael Fahy

Two of the brothers who co-founded the Laterooms.com empire have set up a site offering money-off vouchers for restaurants, shops and online sites.

Steve and Paul Walsh – both of whom stepped down from Laterooms in 2004 following its £21m sale to private equity firm ECI Ventures – have set up offers.co.uk as part of its easycover.com ltd business, which was one of several online domain names acquired by the brothers at the same time as Laterooms in 1996. However, it is only since their remaining stakes changed hands when Laterooms was sold to travel giant TUI for £108m in 2006 that they have decided to move back into online retail.

Walsh said that he plans for the site to become an aggregator of special offers printed in newspapers, magazines and other sources. He also plans to target companies directly to encourage them to place exclusive offers on the site.

COMMENTS? mfahy@crain.com