Investors should always be careful not to look too far into the future - especially when their portfolio is made up almost entirely of internet stocks. Europ@web, the private internet investment vehicle of French entrepreneur Bernard Arnault, has a catchy little banner on its website explaining its investment philosophy: 'If an idea doesn't have global e-company potential.... we'll let it fade away.'

A bit like Europ@web itself, after it last week gave up on being a global e-company and closed seven of its offices around the world.