Brent and Martha still have plenty to smile about

Online auctioneer QXL now has a share price of 9.25p, compared with 700p last year.

"If they become part of a large group, their value could be greater," one analyst said of the auctioneer.

Psion's share price is also languishing at a low of about 185p, compared with a high of 1,400p reached last year.

Some see Psion as vulnerable, following Motorola's decision to pull out a key alliance.

One analyst said: "Psion is in a game dominated by even greater heavyweights... once you have giants fighting, a lot more blood will flow than with two tiny weeny dot.coms."

Getting desperate

This year has already seen some takeovers in this sector.

Earlier this month Schlumberger, the oil services and technology company, made an agreed bid at 560p per share for Sema.

The price may be a long way from Sema's low of 248p, but even further from its high of 1848p.

More and more such marriages are likely to take place, especially with companies who are finding it difficult to get further funding.

"Companies that are not funded to break even are getting a little bit more desperate... some of the companies... will either go into liquidation or put themselves up for sale at break even prices," said Lehman Brothers' internet analyst Heidi Fitzpatrick.

Lets not go public

Other companies who have considered going public will decide instead to find a partner or parent.

The best example of this is online giant eBay's decision on Wednesday to buy iBazar, the privately held French internet company.

It is paying about $112m for the company, which had originally planned to go public later this year.

But buyers are likely to be traditional companies who will find that buying a dot.com may be cheaper than setting up their own online operation.

Most traditional companies "are now in a position to acquire an online distribution channel for a reasonable price," said Nomura's Daniel Bieler.

John Lewis may have started a trend

A recent example of this is when John Lewis bought the UK arm of Buy.com.

But while pounds and pence matter, no matter how cheap a company is, they may not always fit comfortably in a bricks and mortar portfolio.

While Lastminute's price may be right for an offline travel brand, its funky image may not fit comfortably with this kind of name.

Allegra Strategies' Jeffrey Young warns that many potential acquirors may also find they are a bit cash strapped.

"I still think we will see a fair bit of caution. Some of the companies that would have made takeovers won't make takeovers because their own share prices won't support it," he said.