AdForce Near Asset Sale, Complete Shutdown

AdForce is close to a deal with ThinPortal.net, a New York-based colocation services firm, although lingering legal issues could sabotage the deal entirely — stranding clients without an ad server.

According to a source close to the negotiations, final talks are underway that would make Cupertino, Calif.-based AdForce a subsidiary of ThinPortal.net.

ThinPortal spokesman David Simon declined to discuss the negotiations at length, but said he expected the deal to close by Friday evening.

However, sources tell internetnews.com that the sale was set to have been completed earlier this week, but ran into unspecified legal snags that threaten to delay or scuttle the deal entirely.

Also according to the source, AdForce has roughly a week’s worth of operating cash left.

As a result, stalled negotiations could spell big trouble for some major clients. 24/7 Media, which uses AdForce to serve its ads in Europe, is expecting that it will take at least another three weeks to move publishers over to its own ad server.

Additionally, another major European ad network, ad pepper media, faces something of a similar problem. While the company uses DoubleClick’s DART for most of its serving, an executive told internetnews.com that a few of its sites continue to rely on former vendor AdForce, through its German subsidiary ADTECH.

However, if AdForce is able to seal the deal with ThinPortal.net, then the situation likely will be much better for the companies.

CMGI and its liquidator for AdForce declined to comment on speculation regarding the future of the unit’s assets.