Zethus, former golden child, goes under

Real Estate Weekly, March 14, 2001 by Elaine Misonzhnik

Oh, the uncertainties of fate! Only six months ago it was the darling of the industry. The brokers feared it. The VIPs cuddled it.

The high-ranking officials at world-renowned firms like Cushman & Wakefield and Goldman Sachs brought it money and paid it compliments.

But now, after months of valiant struggling in an uncertain market, Zethus Inc., once touted as the first online real estate marketplace, has accepted the fact that its time has come. According to published reports last week, the firm will file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

"It was just very difficult market conditions," said a source at Goldman Sachs, a firm that had invested $15 in the company, trying to explain why Zethus failed. "I don't think there was anything inherently, wrong with the business."

They sounded sympathetic, but that fact could hardly bring consolation to Zethus' staff, who were not picking up the phone last week.

Executives at Cushman & Wakefield, who at one point looked at Zethus as its opportunity to lead the industry into cyber-bliss, were not returning calls either, nor were officials at RealtyIQ, an online data provider which was hoping to form a merger with Zethus. The long-talked about negotiations between the two firms apparently never bore fruit.

And it was just last summer that Tom Fallus, president of the New York brokerage division for Cushman & Wakefield, told Real Estate Weekly that Zethus would "be our Nasdaq."