APBnews.com runs out of money

Internet news service APB Online announced today that it has exhausted funding and has terminated approximately 140 employees.

New York-based APB Online is the latest in a string of dot-com companies to run into financial difficulties. The company operates APBnews.com, a news network focusing on crime, justice and safety.

At a companywide meeting this morning, APBnews CEO Marshall Davidson announced that although the company has exhausted funding and is reducing its operations, it will continue to seek investment funding with major media companies.

Davidson said that in March, APB Online was in the midst of a third round of financing, but that the market's valuation for Internet companies drastically declined, leaving APB in financial turmoil.

"Following this downturn was a difficult time to raise capital for most Internet companies, and negotiations with strategic business partners have taken longer than anticipated," Davidson said in a statement.

APBnews said employees will not be paid as of today, although many will continue to volunteer their time for at least this week.

Founded in 1998, APBnews' newsroom was staffed with more than 55 veteran newspaper and TV journalists, including two Pulitzer Prize winners, as well as 130 freelancers.

APBnews also has fought for freedom of the online press, recently winning a public-records lawsuit that gave it the right to publish online the financial disclosure records of all federal judges.