LookSmart

LookSmart
Founded 1995 (1995)
(as Homebase)
1998 (1998)
(as LookSmart)
Headquarters San Francisco
Founder(s) Evan Thornley
Tracy Ellery
Website www.looksmart.com
Alexa rank 68,929 (2 June 2018)[1]

LookSmart is a search advertising company. It provides search, powered by Google Search, and pay-per-click and contextual advertising services. LookSmart also licenses and manages search ad networks as white-label products. It abides by the click measurement guidelines of the Interactive Advertising Bureau.[2]

History

The company was founded as Homebase in late 1995 in Melbourne, Australia by husband and wife Evan Thornley and Tracy Ellery, executives of McKinsey & Company.[3]

Reader's Digest invested $5 million in the company for an 80% stake.[3]

In November 1996, the company launched its Looksmart service.[4]

After leadership changes at Reader's Digest, the company was sold back to the founders as well as Martin Hosking, with Reader's Digest providing a $1.5 million loan and retaining a 10% equity stake.[3]

In May 1998, the company raised $2.3 million from Amwin and $6.0 from Cox Media Group and Macquarie Group and was valued at $23.2 million.[3] The company also relocated to San Francisco.

In 1998, the company reached an agreement to provide directory and listing services for Microsoft. The deal provided the company with $30 million upfront and guaranteed payments of $5 million per year for 5 years.[3]

By 1999, the company had 500 employees.[3]

In April 1999, the company raised $59.6 million based on a post-money valuation of $430 million.[3]

On August 20, 1999, during the dot-com bubble, the company became a public company via an initial public offering, raising $92 million based on a $1 billion valuation for the company.[5]

By October 1999, the stock price reached $30 per share, giving the company a market capitalization of $2.5 billion.[6] The founders' 15% stake was worth $375 million.[7]

In March 2000, the stock price peaked at over $70 per share.[8]

In September 2000, the company acquired Zeal for $20 million.[8]

The founders only sold around 5% of their stock before the dot-com bubble collapsed.[9]

In January 2001, the company fired 172 employees or 31% of its staff to cut costs.[10]

In March 2002, the company acquired WiseNut for $9.25 million in stock.[11]

In July 2002, Thornley resigned as CEO but stayed on as chairman. Three of the seven members of the board of directors resigned. By then the stock was trading at 16 cents per share.[12]

In August 2003, the company announced that Microsoft, which accounted for 70% of the company's revenues, was testing its own search tools and the stock dropped 20% in a day.[13]

On October 7, 2003, Microsoft announced that it would not renew its agreement with Looksmart and the company's stock price plunged 52% in a day.[14][15]

In September 2003, the company settled a lawsuit filed in 2002 by customers after the company converted thousands of websites that originally had paid a onetime submission fee into a cost-per-click payment model.[3]

In May 2004, Thornley resigned as chairman and was replaced by Teresa Dial.

In September 2004, the company acquired Furl.[16]

In 2004, the company sold its Australian operations.[7]

In October 2004, David Hills was appointed CEO.[17]

In June 2007, John Simonelli, the CFO of the company resigned.[18]

In July 2007, the company sold Grub to Wikia[19] for $50,000.[20]

In August 2007, Hills resigned as CEO.[17]

In October 2007, the company sold Zeal for $50,000.[20]

In March 2009, the company sold Furl to Diigo.[16]

In February 2013, Michael Onghai was named CEO.

In August 2013, the company acquired Syncapse.[21]

In October 2015, the company transferred all of its assets to a new entity and the former entity was merged with Pyxis Tankers so that Pyxis could become a public company.[22]

In March 2017, the company deregistered its common stock and suspended its public reporting obligations.[23]

References

  1. ↑ "Alexa Internet: Looksmart.com". Alexa Internet.
  2. ↑ "Interactive Advertising Bureau Click Measurement Guidelines Version 1.0—Final Release" (PDF). Interactive Advertising Bureau. May 12, 2009.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Golis, Christopher (2010). Enterprise and Venture Capital: A Business Builders' and Investors' Handbook. ReadHowYouWant.com.
  4. ↑ "Newsline". Billboard. November 9, 1996.
  5. ↑ "LOOKSMART LTD (LOOK) IPO". NASDAQ.
  6. ↑ "LookSmart shares poised for something, but what?". Marketwatch. October 14, 1999.
  7. 1 2 Chessell, James (January 22, 2004). "LookSmart not looking smart". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  8. 1 2 "LookSmart Gets Wise To Value Of Volunteers". Forbes. October 4, 2000.
  9. ↑ Schwab, Adam (January 14, 2009). "Thornley 2: LookSmart share sell-off remains unexplained". Crikey. (subscription required)
  10. ↑ "Layoffs for Looksmart". American City Business Journals. January 12, 2001.
  11. ↑ "LookSmart acquires WiseNut". American City Business Journals. March 12, 2002.
  12. ↑ Sinclair, Jenny; Zetter, Kim (July 2, 2002). "Thornley tips LookSmart profits after boardroom showdown". The Age.
  13. ↑ Hines, Matt (August 18, 2003). "LookSmart's Microsoft deal looks rocky". ZDNet.
  14. ↑ Badenhausen, Kurt (October 31, 2005). "Your Big Best Friend--Or Not". Forbes.
  15. ↑ "Deal with Microsoft dies and LookSmart's stock plummets". American City Business Journals. October 7, 2003.
  16. 1 2 "Diigo Buys Web Page Clipping Service Furl Away From Looksmart". TechCrunch. March 9, 2009.
  17. 1 2 "LookSmart Announces Executive Management Change" (Press release). Business Wire. August 1, 2007.
  18. ↑ "LookSmart's CFO to step down". American City Business Journals. June 7, 2007.
  19. ↑ Vance, Ashlee (July 27, 2007). "Wikia snatches open search software from LookSmart". The Register.
  20. 1 2 "LOOKSMART, LTD. 2007 Form 10-K Annual Report". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
  21. ↑ "LookSmart to Acquire the Assets of Syncapse" (Press release). Globe Newswire. August 15, 2013.
  22. ↑ "Pyxis Tankers Inc. Completes Merger with LookSmart, Ltd. and Expects to Commence Trading on the NASDAQ Capital Market Today" (Press release). PR Newswire. October 28, 2015.
  23. ↑ "LookSmart Group Effects 1 For 100 Reverse Stock Split, To Deregister, Applies To Become OTC Pink Current/Alternative Reporting" (Press release). PR Newswire. March 24, 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.