Verticalnet, Inc. was a host of 43

business-to-business Business-to-business (B2B or, in some countries, BtoB) refers to trade and commercial activity where a business sees other businesses as its customer base. This typically occurs when: * A business sources materials for its production process for ...

(B2B) procurement portals headquartered in

Horsham, Pennsylvania Horsham is a census-designated place in Horsham Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 15,193 at the 2020 census. It is home to the Biddle Air National Guard Base at the former site of Naval Air Station ...

. It was famous for its

market capitalization Market capitalization, sometimes referred to as market cap, is the total value of a publicly traded company's outstanding common shares owned by stockholders. Market capitalization is equal to the market price per common share multiplied by ...

of $10.89 billion on March 10, 2000, during the

dot-com bubble The dot-com bubble (or dot-com boom) was a stock market bubble that ballooned during the late-1990s and peaked on Friday, March 10, 2000. This period of market growth coincided with the widespread adoption of the World Wide Web and the Interne ...

, despite sales of only $112.5 million in 2000. Verticalnet was acquired by Bravo Solutions in 2008 for $15.2 million.

History

Verticalnet was founded in 1995 by Michael McNulty and Michael Hagan with a site called WaterOnline. In 1997, Mark Walsh joined the company as its

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

. In 1999, on the first day of trading after its

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

, its shares increased in value by 180%, valuing the company at $1.6 billion, despite only having $3.6 million in quarterly revenue. The company had 1,300 advertisers, each of which were paying $6,000 per year. At that time, Internet Capital Group, now Actua Corporation, owned 28% of the company and founders Michael McNulty and Michael Hagan were each worth $60 million on paper. In 1999, the company lost $53.5 million on revenues of $18.4 million. In 2000, revenues increased to $112.5 million and the company posted a cash loss of $28.5 million. In January 2000, the company received a $100 million investment from

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

. During 2000, the

burst, and the

of the company fell from a peak of $10.89 billion on March 10, 2000 to $3.89 billion on May 4, 2000. In 2002, Verticalnet acquired Atlas Commerce for 14.3 million shares of Verticalnet common stock and $3.5 million of cash and the company relocated to Malvern, Pennsylvania. In 2002, VerticalNet sold its Small and Medium Business Group to Corry Publishing, now Jameson Publishing, for a cash up-front payment of $2.35 million and a four-year performance-based earn-out of $6.5 million, as well as the assumption of certain liabilities. In 2008, Bravo Solutions acquired Verticalnet for $15.2 million.

References

{{Dot-com Bubble 1995 establishments in Pennsylvania 1999 initial public offerings 2008 disestablishments in Pennsylvania American companies established in 1995 Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq Companies disestablished in 2008 Dot-com bubble