Internet retailer and delivery company Kozmo.com is closing operations, liquidating its assets and terminating its 1,100 employees. Failure to close a merger with PDQuick, an online grocery delivery firm in Los Angeles, is cited as the reason for Kozmo's demise.
The merger would have brought in much needed financing. Kozmo, which closed its Web site Thursday, is one of many online delivery services that have been hurt by the economic downturn and the recent unwillingness of investors to provide funding to Internet businesses.
Calls made to Kozmo, New York, were not immediately returned. The closure ends the 3-year-old company's bid to revolutionize convenience store shopping with its same-day delivery service.
In February, company executives seemed upbeat when they announced plans to restructure the business, including dropping 400,000 catalogs this month in its nine markets — Boston, New York, Washington, Atlanta, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Portland, OR.
