Staff at the company, which sold kit from Discreet, Apple/ Nothing Real, Digidesign, Softimage, Avid and other companies, were informed of the decision last Thursday. Final orders were accepted on Friday. The company will be wound down over a period of months.
"Like most resellers Tyrell has been losing money for some time," said Tyrell managing director Simon Brett, explaining WPP's decision. "We never really recovered from a certain company's decision to take its sales direct."
Sales people were released immediately but management and support teams will stay on until the end of the month. WPP, who will fulfill redundancy obligations to staff, will also honour any current commitments to clients. Support contracts are open to negotiation and Tyrell management is looking to sub-contract these to third parties.
Both the company's Bristol and Manchester offices will close. Tyrell Ireland, now totally owned by its management, is unaffected and will remain operational.
Brett went on to explain that once it had become clear WPP was looking to close the company, Tyrell directors looked into various ways of saving it, including an attempted management buyout. Ultimately, "no agreement could be reached," he said. Brett also complimented WPP saying it had been "very patient".
Brett said he now intends to start up his own reseller called XTFX. He hopes to have the new company trading by March. He also hopes to take eight or nine Tyrell staff with him. A venue for the company - which will concentrate on selling and supporting film editing and compositing kit from Discreet, Softimage and Nothing Real - is being sought.
Tyrell is the third company in 12 months to be forced out of the reseller market. Red Lorry Yellow Lorry stopped selling kit in order to concentrate on corporate marketing in February last year while McMillan closed for business in December.
Tyrell, formed in 1992, was bought by WPP in 2000 and briefly formed part of the Metro Group.
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