February 8, 2008 at 15:47Dotcom pioneers. Where are they now?
- Transfer
In the light of the recent announcement of Microsoft’s intention to buy Yahoo , there was a good opportunity to pay attention to those companies that gave the web its present look. Some of them continue the path of innovation and profit, while others have become extinct or have been absorbed by larger companies.
About.com . After opening in 1997, the New York Times bought the web guide site in 2005 for almost $ 700 million. The project is still alive and offers a variety of types of content (in the form of both text and video).
Altavistawas one of the first major web search engines. After opening in late 1995, it gained popularity. In 1998, the parent company Digital Equipment Corporation was sold to Compaq. In total, the search engine survived three more leadership changes until it finally ceased to exist with Yahoo, where AltaVista technology is still used.
Amazon.com . The brainchild of Jeff Bezos, founded in 1995, survived the collapse of the dotcoms and began to make a profit in speed. In addition, it crushed a number of popular web projects, including Internet Movie Database and Alexa Internet, and, as it became known the other day, Audible.com .
Aolbegan its existence as a modem video game service before it almost went bankrupt in the early 80s. Then, becoming an Internet service provider in the nineties, AOL continued to grow until competition in the field forced digging to turn its attention to content. AOL later teamed up with Time Warner in 2001. The company is still known for its instant messaging service, news portal and as an Internet provider.
Ask Jeeves has been on the Internet since 1996, and has been known for its cartoon character Jeeves, a servant who responded to inquiries. Jeeves was removed from the site ten years after the company survived rebranding and became known as Ask.com. Although Ask.com is still an active player in the search engine market, it still lags behind in popularity from search monsters like Google and Yahoo.
Buy.comwas founded in 1997 and how Amazon.com began its existence with the sale of certain products before starting to sell almost all products in all categories. The company marked shares on the stock market in 2000, but their value fell. Company founder Scott Blam bought back control of the company and made it private. To this day, Buy.com continues to trade online.
CBS Marketwatch , now better known as simply MarketWatch, was partially owned by Viacom, before being bought by Dow Jones, a subsidiary of News Corp in 2005. The company still produces video and text content for both the web and TV.
CMGI(College Marketing Group Information) was founded in the mid-80s and went through an IPO in 1994 as CMG Information Services. The venture capital company continued to grow until the collapse of the dotcoms, which it did not survive.
CNET Networks , the parent company of News.com, started out with the release of a technology television show, but then expanded its field of activity by engaging in online content from video games to technology news services and blogging networks. Further, the company entered large global markets such as China and the UK. Recently, a group of investors led by Jana Partners announced their intention to get the majority of seats on the company's board of directors.
CompuServe- not only one of the most famous dot-com pioneers, but also the oldest. This company is best known as an Internet provider, becoming popular in the early nineties, before they were hit by a crisis due to user dissatisfaction with modems and poorly written software. In 1998, Worldcom quickly acquired the company, merging it with AOL 24 hours after the deal. CompuServe remains a news portal provider (netscape.com is the main news source).
E * trade . This financial services company was born from another company called TradePlus, before entering the network in 1991 under a new brand. Five years later, an IPO took place and the company was able to survive the collapse of EarthLink dotcoms
- Another provider who survived the fall of the dotcoms. Starting with the provision of dial-up access in 1994, the company continues to provide Internet access and VoIP services through DSL, cable and satellites. The company also launched Helio's MVNO phone service .
eBay . The pioneer of online auctions, eBay is now a more diversified company, is now struggling not only with the onslaught of Amazon.com, but also with the so-called. “Consumer fatigue”, which could not but affect the financial statements. In January, company CEO Meg Whitman said she would step down in favor of John Donahoe, head of eBay Marketplaces.
Excite @ Home- The product of one of the largest mergers of the dot-era: the popular portal Excite.com and the builder of broadband infrastructure AtHome. It was planned to create a company that would provide both channels and content (like AOL), but the merger of two successful companies led to the creation of one failure. The company sold its portal in 2001.
Expedia was one of the first online travel agencies. Created by Microsoft in 1996, the company separated after three years. In 2001, it was acquired by InterActiveCorp (then known as USA Networks), which owns many tourist and entertainment sites. Expedia.com continues to be one of the most famous online travel agencies.
Games.combest known for changing hands, including from Atari to Games Inc. for more than a million dollars. The site now serves as a portal to the AOL games section.
iVillage was created as a media company with content focused mainly on women. After the creation by former employees of America Online in 1995, the company continued to grow. Four years later, an IPO took place. After the merger with Women.com in 2001, iVillage shares became more attractive. In 2006, NBC Universal bought the company for $ 600 million.
Lycosbetter known for its "search" roots. Lycos, now besides this portal, has experienced a period of active growth after its launch in 1994, sufficient to attract the attention of the Spanish company Terra Networks, which acquired Lycos in 2000. Four years later, Daum Communications became the new owner. Lycos continues to launch new services like Mix .
Monster.com, like Craiglist, provides job search ads. The service was launched in 1999 as a combined solution of two former competitors in this field, Online Career Center and Monster Board. The company owns nearly 40 localized versions of the site.
Netscapeknown for one of the first web browsers that almost completely dominated the market in the mid-90s, before the release of Internet Explorer from Microsoft. In 1998, the company acquired AOL. Netscape is now a social news portal that has branched off into a separate Propeller brand . Based on the Netscape Navigator browser code, even a customized version of Firefox has been created . Within a month, support for NN will be permanently discontinued.
Overstock.comalways considered a "little brother" in relation to its main competitor Amazon.com. The service began its existence in 1997 under the name D2: Discounts Direct, but the brand did not take root and was later changed to Overstock. Most of all, this company is known among investors due to an unsuccessful IPO and a subsequent drop in sales, but among consumers, the company is more associated with an advertising company, in which the model Sabina Ehrenfeld took part. The company continues to sell various products, but still does not make a profit.
Pets.com shared the Amazon.com model, focusing on selling pet products. Despite the amazing ad campaign , it was a bad time to get started: the collapse of the dotcoms was claimed by Pets.com.
PricelineOffers tourism services at discounted prices. After launching in 1998, the company set about expanding to other areas, such as international calls, mortgages and car sales, before focusing on tourism. The company is also famous for its "talisman" - William Shatner, who played James Kirk in the series Star Trek. Priceline continues to grow, making a profit by selling its eBay shopping technology license.
Shockwave.com - a gaming site, online since 1998. After the merger with Atom Corporation in 2001, MTV was bought back for $ 200 million.
Webvan. Online supermarkets such as Webvan attracted a huge amount of investment from venture capitalists, which gave rise to a crazy spending on building high-tech warehouses, vibrant websites and hiring courier armies. In the end, the overspending did not lead to anything good, but the concept continues to live, albeit with the involvement of offline retailers.
About.com . After opening in 1997, the New York Times bought the web guide site in 2005 for almost $ 700 million. The project is still alive and offers a variety of types of content (in the form of both text and video).
Altavistawas one of the first major web search engines. After opening in late 1995, it gained popularity. In 1998, the parent company Digital Equipment Corporation was sold to Compaq. In total, the search engine survived three more leadership changes until it finally ceased to exist with Yahoo, where AltaVista technology is still used.
Amazon.com . The brainchild of Jeff Bezos, founded in 1995, survived the collapse of the dotcoms and began to make a profit in speed. In addition, it crushed a number of popular web projects, including Internet Movie Database and Alexa Internet, and, as it became known the other day, Audible.com .
Aolbegan its existence as a modem video game service before it almost went bankrupt in the early 80s. Then, becoming an Internet service provider in the nineties, AOL continued to grow until competition in the field forced digging to turn its attention to content. AOL later teamed up with Time Warner in 2001. The company is still known for its instant messaging service, news portal and as an Internet provider.
Ask Jeeves has been on the Internet since 1996, and has been known for its cartoon character Jeeves, a servant who responded to inquiries. Jeeves was removed from the site ten years after the company survived rebranding and became known as Ask.com. Although Ask.com is still an active player in the search engine market, it still lags behind in popularity from search monsters like Google and Yahoo.
Buy.comwas founded in 1997 and how Amazon.com began its existence with the sale of certain products before starting to sell almost all products in all categories. The company marked shares on the stock market in 2000, but their value fell. Company founder Scott Blam bought back control of the company and made it private. To this day, Buy.com continues to trade online.
CBS Marketwatch , now better known as simply MarketWatch, was partially owned by Viacom, before being bought by Dow Jones, a subsidiary of News Corp in 2005. The company still produces video and text content for both the web and TV.
CMGI(College Marketing Group Information) was founded in the mid-80s and went through an IPO in 1994 as CMG Information Services. The venture capital company continued to grow until the collapse of the dotcoms, which it did not survive.
CNET Networks , the parent company of News.com, started out with the release of a technology television show, but then expanded its field of activity by engaging in online content from video games to technology news services and blogging networks. Further, the company entered large global markets such as China and the UK. Recently, a group of investors led by Jana Partners announced their intention to get the majority of seats on the company's board of directors.
CompuServe- not only one of the most famous dot-com pioneers, but also the oldest. This company is best known as an Internet provider, becoming popular in the early nineties, before they were hit by a crisis due to user dissatisfaction with modems and poorly written software. In 1998, Worldcom quickly acquired the company, merging it with AOL 24 hours after the deal. CompuServe remains a news portal provider (netscape.com is the main news source).
E * trade . This financial services company was born from another company called TradePlus, before entering the network in 1991 under a new brand. Five years later, an IPO took place and the company was able to survive the collapse of EarthLink dotcoms
- Another provider who survived the fall of the dotcoms. Starting with the provision of dial-up access in 1994, the company continues to provide Internet access and VoIP services through DSL, cable and satellites. The company also launched Helio's MVNO phone service .
eBay . The pioneer of online auctions, eBay is now a more diversified company, is now struggling not only with the onslaught of Amazon.com, but also with the so-called. “Consumer fatigue”, which could not but affect the financial statements. In January, company CEO Meg Whitman said she would step down in favor of John Donahoe, head of eBay Marketplaces.
Excite @ Home- The product of one of the largest mergers of the dot-era: the popular portal Excite.com and the builder of broadband infrastructure AtHome. It was planned to create a company that would provide both channels and content (like AOL), but the merger of two successful companies led to the creation of one failure. The company sold its portal in 2001.
Expedia was one of the first online travel agencies. Created by Microsoft in 1996, the company separated after three years. In 2001, it was acquired by InterActiveCorp (then known as USA Networks), which owns many tourist and entertainment sites. Expedia.com continues to be one of the most famous online travel agencies.
Games.combest known for changing hands, including from Atari to Games Inc. for more than a million dollars. The site now serves as a portal to the AOL games section.
iVillage was created as a media company with content focused mainly on women. After the creation by former employees of America Online in 1995, the company continued to grow. Four years later, an IPO took place. After the merger with Women.com in 2001, iVillage shares became more attractive. In 2006, NBC Universal bought the company for $ 600 million.
Lycosbetter known for its "search" roots. Lycos, now besides this portal, has experienced a period of active growth after its launch in 1994, sufficient to attract the attention of the Spanish company Terra Networks, which acquired Lycos in 2000. Four years later, Daum Communications became the new owner. Lycos continues to launch new services like Mix .
Monster.com, like Craiglist, provides job search ads. The service was launched in 1999 as a combined solution of two former competitors in this field, Online Career Center and Monster Board. The company owns nearly 40 localized versions of the site.
Netscapeknown for one of the first web browsers that almost completely dominated the market in the mid-90s, before the release of Internet Explorer from Microsoft. In 1998, the company acquired AOL. Netscape is now a social news portal that has branched off into a separate Propeller brand . Based on the Netscape Navigator browser code, even a customized version of Firefox has been created . Within a month, support for NN will be permanently discontinued.
Overstock.comalways considered a "little brother" in relation to its main competitor Amazon.com. The service began its existence in 1997 under the name D2: Discounts Direct, but the brand did not take root and was later changed to Overstock. Most of all, this company is known among investors due to an unsuccessful IPO and a subsequent drop in sales, but among consumers, the company is more associated with an advertising company, in which the model Sabina Ehrenfeld took part. The company continues to sell various products, but still does not make a profit.
Pets.com shared the Amazon.com model, focusing on selling pet products. Despite the amazing ad campaign , it was a bad time to get started: the collapse of the dotcoms was claimed by Pets.com.
PricelineOffers tourism services at discounted prices. After launching in 1998, the company set about expanding to other areas, such as international calls, mortgages and car sales, before focusing on tourism. The company is also famous for its "talisman" - William Shatner, who played James Kirk in the series Star Trek. Priceline continues to grow, making a profit by selling its eBay shopping technology license.
Shockwave.com - a gaming site, online since 1998. After the merger with Atom Corporation in 2001, MTV was bought back for $ 200 million.
Webvan. Online supermarkets such as Webvan attracted a huge amount of investment from venture capitalists, which gave rise to a crazy spending on building high-tech warehouses, vibrant websites and hiring courier armies. In the end, the overspending did not lead to anything good, but the concept continues to live, albeit with the involvement of offline retailers.