The struggling online directories website, Scoot.com, has offloaded its 50% stake in Scoot Europe to French media group Vivendi Universal to stave off bankruptcy proceedings.
Vivendi Universal has paid the nominal sum of one Euro, equivalent to 62p, to take full ownership of Scoot's European holdings in France, Belgium and Holland.
"Had the sale not taken place, Scoot Europe would have run out of funds on Friday 27 July as a result of Scoot Belgium (a subsidiary of Scoot Europe) not having sufficient funds to meet its salary obligations," the company said in a statement.
The company said it was in talks to save the UK side of the business, but warned it would run out of cash within a month if it didn't find new funding.
Scoot is hoping to find a rescue deal that would guarantee it the £15m it needs to take it forward.
The sale of Scoot Europe comes three months after Scoot rejected an offer from Vivendi for the whole of the company at 15 pence a share. The offer valued Scoot at about £108m, but the value of the company has since plummeted to £14m.
Scoot's fortunes have declined dramatically from its heyday as rising costs led to excessive cash burn and a fall from grace, transforming one of Britain's biggest dot.coms to a small-cap stock.
The chief executive of Scoot, Robert Bonnier, and the chief financial officer, Ronald Dorjee, quit last month amid massive staff culls and office consolidation.
Vivendi is seen as a likely buyer for the rest of the group, given its 19.2% stake in the UK side of the business.
Scoot has been struggling to fund its ongoing operations and set up a strategic review earlier this year to consider ways of securing its future.
The company is also considering the sale of its Loot classified advertising business, which it bought for £180m in July 2000 but is now worth only about half that.
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