10-27-2004, 11:25 AM
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Confirmed User
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: I'd rather be networking than not working.
Posts: 3,700
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a little history lesson:
Quote:
September 22, 2003
The Shopping.com domain name has a long and interesting history. The property was originally created by former navy seal and serial retail entrepreneur Robert J. McNulty in 1996. Incubator Idealab invested seed money of $250,000 in Shopping.com (Idealab also spawned GoTo.com, known today as Overture), and the company rode the dot-com boom and went public in November 1997, raising about $10 million in the process. Despite SEC charges of stock price manipulation, the company was purchased in March 1999 by then AltaVista parent Compaq for about $220 million in cash. AltaVista had high hopes for its new property. Rod Schrock, then Compaq Senior Vice President and Group General Manager, Consumer Products, said of the purchase: "The Internet is fast becoming a transaction medium in addition to a content medium. Today, AltaVista becomes the first site to fully combine these two capabilities into one synergistic user experience. Our intent is to make AltaVista the leading guide for both information and e-commerce on the Internet." The intent didn't last long. In October 2001, AltaVista said it was outsourcing its shopping search functions to Dealtime, saying online shopping was no longer a core strategy. As part of the deal, AltaVista transferred ownership of the shopping.com domain name to Dealtime
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full article:
http://searchenginewatch.com/searchd...le.php/3080171
history repeats itself?
Quote:
Tue Oct 26, 5:22 PM ET
Nirav Tolia, Shopping.com's president and chief operating officer, resigned in June after the company received information claiming he had faked part of his educational background and job history, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (news - web sites). The documents didn't detail Tolia's alleged fabrications. Investors in a Epinions, a company that Shopping.com bought last year, also are threatening trouble. The company warned in its IPO papers a group of Epinions investors are demanding damages for alleged insider misconduct by Tolia and others when Shopping.com negotiated the takeover. The Epinions investors want to be paid 1.8 million to 2.4 million Shopping.com shares ? a stake worth $52 million to $69 million after Tuesday's trading.
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but I am glad that the tech/ipo/vc market is back.  |
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