As Valleywag’s Owen Thomas writes, “The all-stock acquisition was made in February, when GoFish shares were riding near an all-time high.  With GoFish shares now trading at less than a buck . . . the entire company [is] only worth $16 million. With its stock currency devalued, GoFish no longer has the means to pay Bolt’s shareholders, let alone Universal Music, whose lawsuit prompted Bolt to put itself up for sale in the first place.”

Now, that’s not exactly what GoFish said in a press release it issued – the “leading Internet Video Network showcasing original, Made-for-Internet (‘MFI’) programming” instead stated that Bolt failed to “finalize a definitive settlement to the outstanding copyright infringement lawsuit” and did not “settle comparable potential claims.”  But the two versions line up pretty well.

So, where does this leave GoFish and Bolt?  One must assume that they’re on a downhill slide – neither the rumor nor the corporate spin is likely to impress investors.  And although users may not abandon either site due to this behind-the-scenes stuff, the development won’t attract new ones, either.

Credit goes to Paul Resnikoff of Digital Music News for first hearing of the breakup.