Russian news portal DailyOnline goes offline

Posted by Alisa Zykova on January 7, 2010 at 12:07 PM

Russian language business news site DailyOnline "went offline," according to a report today by Lenta.ru. The site could not be opened as of Wednesday, and why it stopped functioning is unknown

A message from the administrator shows up when opening dailyonline.ru, stating that the site will temporarily stop publishing new content while it focuses on moving to a new format. In addition, the message says the date of DailyOnline's re-launch will be announced shortly.

There has been speculation about the outlet's future, with rumours emerging late last year that the portal could branch into Web TV. According to DailyOnline's Chief Editor Raf Shakirov (former chief editor of Kommersant, Izvestiya and Gazeta), the outlet's investors are devising a business plan for 2010, writes OpenSpace.ru.

Shakirov launched the site in November 2008, citing that offline media started to lose revenues and audiences to the Internet. He added that during the global economic meltdown, audiences would be more interested in business-oriented news.

"For readers, it includes free access; for advertisers, it is a cheaper and more effective method to reach target audiences. Therefore, new Web resources, in particular business ones, have the chance of capturing a share in the market," he said in an interview with Chastniy Korrespondent.