Gigaom suddenly shuts down; the tech site says it can’t pay creditors

Technology website Gigaom announced Monday that it has suddenly ceased operations, citing financial troubles.

Founded in 2006, the company offered news and research about emerging technologies, and it held conferences about cloud computing and mobile and Internet-connected devices and a wide range of other topics.

“Gigaom recently became unable to pay its creditors in full at this time,” the company said Monday evening on its website. “As a result, the company is working with its creditors that have rights to all of the company’s assets as their collateral. All operations have ceased.”

There are no plans to file for bankruptcy protection. “We would like to take a moment and thank our readers and our community for supporting us all along,” the post said.

The website boasted more than 6 million monthly unique visitors, and the company said its mobile reach topped 2 million monthly readers.

Some Gigaom staffers met the news with a public outpouring of emotion.

Managing editor Laura Hazard Owen tweeted her admiration of more than a dozen Gigaom writers, one by one. “The edit team here was the most amazing group of people I’ve ever worked with,” she said. “Hire them before someone else does.”

“This hurts more than I can say,” senior writer Mathew Ingram tweeted. “We tried our best, but it wasn’t enough.”

Founder Om Malik noted in a statement that although he left the company more than a year ago, “Gigaom, the idea, still lives in my heart. Goodnight sweetheart, I still love you!”

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