5 big dot.com flops from 2000s

Today everything is about crypto etc., but just for entertainment it is interesting to look back at some big flops of "dot com" time. So here they are.

1)Pets.com

Pets.com's business model wasn't sustainable. The company lost $147 million in the first nine months of 2000, and the company was unable to secure more cash from investors. When Pets.com went public in February 2000, its stock started at $11 a share and rose to a high of $14. But the rally was shortlived and Pets.com's stock quickly fell below $1 and stayed there until its demise.

2)Webvan.com

Pets.com is the dot.com bust's most famous flop, Webvan grocery delivery service was its biggest. At its November 1999 IPO, Webvan raised $375 million, shares traded at around $30 and the company was valued at $1.2 billion. But that was its peak.

Investors soon realized that the company's customer base and margins weren't large enough to support all of the planned expansions.

By the time the company announced it would close up shop in July 2001, Webvan's stock fell to just 6 cents a share. Webvan laid off 2,000 employees when it failed.

3)eToys.com

When eToys.com shares hit a high of $84.35 in October 1999, who could have guessed that just 16 months later, the company would warn investors that its stock was "worthless?"

The online toy retailer was founded in 1997 and quickly became one of the most visited Web sites for holiday shopping. It spent tens of millions of dollars on marketing campaigns and partnerships as it jockeyed for position with other retailers like Toysrus.com, Amazon.com and Walmart.com. But eToys just couldn't keep up.

After reporting a $74.5 million loss in the last quarter of 2000, the company said it had just enough cash to last until March 31, but after that it would require "an additional, substantial capital infusion."

It never found a white knight. Citing debt of $247 million, eToys said in February 2001 it had no alternative but to file for bankruptcy.

The site was bought out of bankruptcy by KB Toys, which later filed for bankruptcy itself. But eToys.com lives on, hoping the third time's a charm.

4)GeoCities

Not all of the dot.com busts disappeared right away. In fact, GeoCities lasted until last October.

The Web hosting service gave many Internet users their first Web sites. With 19 million unique visitors per month, GeoCities was the third-most visited site on the Web behind AOL and Yahoo in 1998.

When Yahoo bought GeoCities for $3.6 billion in January 1999, it was widely considered a coup. At the point of sale, Yahoo traded at $368 and GeoCities shares sold at $117.

Ah, how times change. Facebook, MySpace and blogspot became the social networking choice du jour, and GeoCities fell out of favor with users.

Yahoo closed down GeoCities on Oct. 26. Many believe GeoCities and its millions of users represented a missed oportunity for Yahoo to evolve the service into a more modern social network.

5)theGlobe.com

TheGlobe.com isn't remembered for becoming one of the first social media sites way back in 1995 as much as it's remembered for its record-setting initial public offering.

When theGlobe.com went public on November 13, 1998, its stock jumped a then-record 600% in its first day of trading. The company set the offer price at $9 a share, but the stock opened at $87. Shares of theGlobe.com rose to a high of $97 during its first day of trading before closing at $63.50.

The company raised $27.9 million in its IPO, and its market cap was valued at $842 million. But less than two years later, in August 2001, theGlobe.com's stock was delisted by the Nasdaq stock exchange for failing to stay above $1 per share.

Founded by 20 year-old Cornell students Todd Krizelman and Stephan Paternot, theGlobe.com was revolutionary for its day. The site allowed users to create and post their own Web pages.

The company stopped its Web hosting business in 2001 but its online gaming sites stayed popular. TheGlobe.com was ultimately unable to sustain itself, and the company finally closed up shop for good in March 2007.

Original source: http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2010/technology/1003/gallery.dot_com_busts