Empty coffers: Basel news portal Barfi.ch ceases operations

The reason given for this step is the economic situation of the company, which no longer permits the continuation of operations. "Our coffers are empty", holds Barfi.ch founder Christian Heeb notes.

Not surprisingly

The end of Barfi.ch does not come as a surprise: Christian Heeb had already told the Keystone-SDA news agency in February that his portal, with a dozen permanent employees and a budget of 2.4 million Swiss francs, was on the brink of collapse.

Barfi.ch had been searching unsuccessfully for a partner for quite some time. And in January, the takeover by the local TV station Telebasel had also failed (Werbewoche.ch reported).

For months, Barfi.ch also courted advertisers under the slogan "Solibarfi. The local advertising industry, however, has been cautiously reticent in the new digital world for them, notes Heeb, who is quite proud of the reach of his free medium. Just this week, Barfi.ch reached the "record of an incredible 493,845 users.

Already in the last week of July, the civil court of Basel-Stadt had granted the news portal a provisional moratorium. But because suppliers subsequently insisted on payment in advance, the bill did not add up, Heeb notes. According to him, he announced the end of the online platform to the employees on Friday morning.

New online medium in Basel since Monday

Heeb launched his portal, including his own app, at the end of July 2015 as a network medium fully focused on mobile communication devices; thus, it did not need a license. "Barfi" is the dialect abbreviation for Barfüsserplatz in the center of Basel's inner city.

Just a few days before Barfi.ch ceases operations, a new online medium has been founded in Basel. Prime News, launched by Christian Keller, the former local boss of the Basel Newspaper went online on Monday. Keller relies on local stories and a simple payment model (Werbewoche.ch reported). (SDA)