Verticalnet, Inc. was a host of 43

business-to-business Business-to-business (B2B or, in some countries, BtoB) is a situation where one business makes a commercial transaction with another. This typically occurs when: * A business is sourcing materials for their production process for output (e.g., a ...

(B2B) procurement portals headquartered in

Horsham, Pennsylvania Horsham is a home rule municipality in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 14,842 at the 2010 census. Horsham is located entirely within Horsham Township, and it is home to the Horsham Air Guard Station at the for ...

. It was famous for its market capitalization of $10.89 billion on March 10, 2000, during the

dot-com bubble The dot-com bubble (dot-com boom, tech bubble, or the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet. Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Comp ...

, 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 central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

. 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 investme ...

, 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 Actua Corporation was a venture capital firm. During the dot com bubble, the company had a market capitalization of over $50 billion. The company was originally known as Internet Capital Group, Inc. and changed its name to Actua Corporation in S ...

, 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, multinational technology company, technology corporation producing Software, computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at th ...

. During 2000, the

burst, and the market capitalization 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