Remember Boo.com? It was the British-based online fashion retailer that launched a decade ago amid much hype, burned through £100 million ($166 million) in 18 months and then burned out in a haze of “corporate hubris” and “technical hurdles”, as we put it at the time. Well, the site is still going—it relaunched as a travel site in 2007—and it’s now in new hands after its Dublin-based owner Web Reservations International was bought out by San Francisco PE firm Hellmann & Friedman for an undisclosed amount on Friday.

Yet Boo.com gets scant mention in the release and WRI is more keen to emphasise its “property management solutions” which are used by 23,000 hoteliers and guest house owners in 180 countries through sites including Hostelworld.com. The company sold €350 million worth of accommodation in 2008, giving it net revenues of €38 million (£34 million; $55.6 million).

• Boo.com’s Back: Dot.Com Flop Now Rebooted As Travel 2.0 Site
• Broadband Tipped to Relight Dot-com Dreams