Pioneers of dotcoms. Where are they now?
In light of the recent announcement of Microsoft’s intention to buy out Yahoo , there was a good opportunity to draw attention to the companies that gave the web its current look. Some of them continue the path of innovation and generate profits, while others have become extinct or have been absorbed by larger companies.
About.com . After opening in 1997, the web guide site was purchased by The New York Times in 2005 for almost $ 700 million. The project is still alive and offers various types of content (both text and video).
AltaVista was one of the first major web search engines. After opening at the end of 1995, popularity came to him. In 1998, the parent company Digital Equipment Corporation was sold to Compaq. In total, the search engine experienced three more changes of leadership, until it finally ceased to exist at Yahoo, where AltaVista technologies are still being used.
Amazon.com . The brainchild of Jeff Bezos, founded in 1995, survived the collapse of the dot-com and began to make a profit in speed. In addition, it has been crushing a number of popular web projects, including the Internet Movie Database and Alexa Internet, and, as it became known recently, Audible.com .
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AOL began its existence as a video game service on a modem, before almost failing to go bankrupt in the early 80s. Then, becoming an Internet provider in the nineties, AOL continued to grow until the competition in the field forced the company to focus on content. Later, AOL 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, the servant who responded to requests. Jeeves was removed from the site ten years after the company survived the rebranding and became known as Ask.com. And although Ask.com is still an active player in the search engine market, it still lags behind the popularity of search monsters like Google and Yahoo.
Buy.com was founded in 1997 and how Amazon.com began its existence with the sale of certain products, before starting the sale of almost all products in all categories. The company has allocated shares on the stock market in 2000, but their value has fallen. Company founder Scott Blum bought control of the company and made it private. To this day, Buy.com continues online trading.
CBS Marketwatch , better known now as just MarketWatch, was partly 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 company continued to grow until the dot-com crash, which it did not survive.
CNET Networks , the parent company of News.com, began its existence 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 service and a blog network. Next, the company entered major global markets such as China and the UK. Recently, a group of investors led by Jana Partners announced its intention to obtain a majority of seats on the company's board of directors.
CompuServe is not only one of the most famous dot-pioneers, but also the oldest. Best of all, this company is known as an Internet provider, becoming popular in the early nineties, before they suffered a crisis due to user discontent with modems and poorly written software. In 1998, the company was quickly bought by Worldcom, merging it with AOL 24 hours after the transaction. CompuServe remains a provider with a news portal (the main news source is netscape.com).
E * trade . This financial services company was born from another company called TradePlus, before going online in 1991 under a new brand. Five years later, an IPO took place and the company was able to survive the dot-com crash.
EarthLink is another provider that survived the dot-com crash. Starting with the provision of dial-up access in 1994, the company continues to provide Internet access and VoIP services via DSL, cable and satellites. The company also launched a telephone MVNO service Helio .
ebay The pioneer of online auctions, eBay is now a more diversified company, is struggling now not only against the onslaught of Amazon.com, but also against the so-called. “Consumer fatigue”, which could not but affect the financial statements. In January, the company's CEO, Meg Whitman, said that she would soon leave his post in favor of John Donahoe, head of the eBay Marketplaces.
Excite @ Home is the product of one of the largest dot-era mergers: 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 combination 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 bought by InterActiveCorp (then known as USA Networks), which owns many travel and entertainment sites. Expedia.com continues to be one of the most famous online travel agencies.
Games.com is best known for switching to different hands, including from Atari to Games Inc. for more than a million dollars. The site now serves as a portal for the AOL games section.
iVillage was created as a media company with content focused primarily on women. After being created 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.
Lycos is better known for its “search” roots. Lycos, now besides this portal, has experienced a period of active growth after launch in 1994, sufficient to attract the attention of the Spanish company Terra Networks, which bought 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 joint solution of two former competitors in this field, the Online Career Center and the Monster Board. The company owns almost 40 localized versions of the site.
Netscape is known to be one of the first web browsers that almost completely dominated the market in the mid-90s, before the release of Microsoft Internet Explorer. In 1998, the company acquired AOL. Netscape is now a social news portal that branched into a separate Propeller brand. Even a customized version of Firefox is created on the basis of the Netscape Navigator browser code. Within a month, NN support will be permanently discontinued.
Overstock.com has always been considered a “little brother” in relation to its main rival Amazon.com. The service began its existence in 1997 under the name D2: Discounts Direct, but the brand did not catch on and was later changed to Overstock. Most of all, this company is known among investors due to the unsuccessful IPO and the subsequent fall in sales, but consumers have more association with the advertising company, in which model Sabina Ehrenfeld took part. The company continues to sell various products, but still does not bring 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 dot-coms took Pets.com with it.
Priceline offers services for tourism at discounted prices. After launch in 1998, the company began expanding to other areas, such as international calls, mortgages, and car sales, before focusing on tourism. The company is also famous for its "talisaman" - William Shatner, who played James Kirk in the TV series Star Trek. Priceline continues to evolve, making a profit thanks to the sale of a license to buy eBay technology.
Shockwave.com is a gaming site, online since 1998. After the merger with Atom Corporation in 2001, MTV was bought out for $ 200 million.
Webvan . Online supermarkets such as Webvan have attracted a huge amount of investment from venture capitalists, which has led to insane spending on the construction of high-tech warehouses, bright sites and hiring courier armies. In the end, 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 web guide site was purchased by The New York Times in 2005 for almost $ 700 million. The project is still alive and offers various types of content (both text and video).
AltaVista was one of the first major web search engines. After opening at the end of 1995, popularity came to him. In 1998, the parent company Digital Equipment Corporation was sold to Compaq. In total, the search engine experienced three more changes of leadership, until it finally ceased to exist at Yahoo, where AltaVista technologies are still being used.
Amazon.com . The brainchild of Jeff Bezos, founded in 1995, survived the collapse of the dot-com and began to make a profit in speed. In addition, it has been crushing a number of popular web projects, including the Internet Movie Database and Alexa Internet, and, as it became known recently, Audible.com .
')
AOL began its existence as a video game service on a modem, before almost failing to go bankrupt in the early 80s. Then, becoming an Internet provider in the nineties, AOL continued to grow until the competition in the field forced the company to focus on content. Later, AOL 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, the servant who responded to requests. Jeeves was removed from the site ten years after the company survived the rebranding and became known as Ask.com. And although Ask.com is still an active player in the search engine market, it still lags behind the popularity of search monsters like Google and Yahoo.
Buy.com was founded in 1997 and how Amazon.com began its existence with the sale of certain products, before starting the sale of almost all products in all categories. The company has allocated shares on the stock market in 2000, but their value has fallen. Company founder Scott Blum bought control of the company and made it private. To this day, Buy.com continues online trading.
CBS Marketwatch , better known now as just MarketWatch, was partly 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 company continued to grow until the dot-com crash, which it did not survive.
CNET Networks , the parent company of News.com, began its existence 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 service and a blog network. Next, the company entered major global markets such as China and the UK. Recently, a group of investors led by Jana Partners announced its intention to obtain a majority of seats on the company's board of directors.
CompuServe is not only one of the most famous dot-pioneers, but also the oldest. Best of all, this company is known as an Internet provider, becoming popular in the early nineties, before they suffered a crisis due to user discontent with modems and poorly written software. In 1998, the company was quickly bought by Worldcom, merging it with AOL 24 hours after the transaction. CompuServe remains a provider with a news portal (the main news source is netscape.com).
E * trade . This financial services company was born from another company called TradePlus, before going online in 1991 under a new brand. Five years later, an IPO took place and the company was able to survive the dot-com crash.
EarthLink is another provider that survived the dot-com crash. Starting with the provision of dial-up access in 1994, the company continues to provide Internet access and VoIP services via DSL, cable and satellites. The company also launched a telephone MVNO service Helio .
ebay The pioneer of online auctions, eBay is now a more diversified company, is struggling now not only against the onslaught of Amazon.com, but also against the so-called. “Consumer fatigue”, which could not but affect the financial statements. In January, the company's CEO, Meg Whitman, said that she would soon leave his post in favor of John Donahoe, head of the eBay Marketplaces.
Excite @ Home is the product of one of the largest dot-era mergers: 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 combination 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 bought by InterActiveCorp (then known as USA Networks), which owns many travel and entertainment sites. Expedia.com continues to be one of the most famous online travel agencies.
Games.com is best known for switching to different hands, including from Atari to Games Inc. for more than a million dollars. The site now serves as a portal for the AOL games section.
iVillage was created as a media company with content focused primarily on women. After being created 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.
Lycos is better known for its “search” roots. Lycos, now besides this portal, has experienced a period of active growth after launch in 1994, sufficient to attract the attention of the Spanish company Terra Networks, which bought 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 joint solution of two former competitors in this field, the Online Career Center and the Monster Board. The company owns almost 40 localized versions of the site.
Netscape is known to be one of the first web browsers that almost completely dominated the market in the mid-90s, before the release of Microsoft Internet Explorer. In 1998, the company acquired AOL. Netscape is now a social news portal that branched into a separate Propeller brand. Even a customized version of Firefox is created on the basis of the Netscape Navigator browser code. Within a month, NN support will be permanently discontinued.
Overstock.com has always been considered a “little brother” in relation to its main rival Amazon.com. The service began its existence in 1997 under the name D2: Discounts Direct, but the brand did not catch on and was later changed to Overstock. Most of all, this company is known among investors due to the unsuccessful IPO and the subsequent fall in sales, but consumers have more association with the advertising company, in which model Sabina Ehrenfeld took part. The company continues to sell various products, but still does not bring 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 dot-coms took Pets.com with it.
Priceline offers services for tourism at discounted prices. After launch in 1998, the company began expanding to other areas, such as international calls, mortgages, and car sales, before focusing on tourism. The company is also famous for its "talisaman" - William Shatner, who played James Kirk in the TV series Star Trek. Priceline continues to evolve, making a profit thanks to the sale of a license to buy eBay technology.
Shockwave.com is a gaming site, online since 1998. After the merger with Atom Corporation in 2001, MTV was bought out for $ 200 million.
Webvan . Online supermarkets such as Webvan have attracted a huge amount of investment from venture capitalists, which has led to insane spending on the construction of high-tech warehouses, bright sites and hiring courier armies. In the end, overspending did not lead to anything good, but the concept continues to live, albeit with the involvement of offline retailers.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/31417/
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