IVillage

iVillage, Inc. is a media company that owns various girl and woman-oriented online and offline content channels, including iVillage.com, gardenweb.com, ivillage.co.uk, gurl.com, and astrology.com. Topics covered include astrology, beauty, books, diet, entertainment, fitness, food, games, health, home and garden, money, parenting, pets, pregnancy and childbirth, relationships, and work.

History

The company was established in New York City in 1995 by Candice Carpenter, an early veteran of America Online, along with co-founders Nancy Evans and Robert Levitan.cite web|url=http://ecommerce.hostip.info/pages/640/Ivillage.html|publisher=Free Encyclopedia of eCommerice|title=iVillage] In 2008, it moved its headquarters to Englewood Cliffs, NJ.

The company's first content site was "Parent Soup", a community channel on America Online. That site featured one of the earliest ecommerce shopping cart and product promotion systems, featuring products made by manufacturers who would enter strategic relationships with the company that site visitors could then buy at a "company store." The company soon opened up other communities such as "AboutWork", "Better Health & Medical", and "Life Soup". By the end of 1998 there were fourteen communities, one million registered users, and three million visitors per month.

In 1999 the company underwent one of the most successful initial public offerings in history, despite never having earned a profit. The initial offering price on NASDAQ was $23, nearly double the expected $13 pricing. Stock price climbed to nearly $100 in the first day of trading and reached over $130 per share within days, but soon began to decline. Most of the original management and staff left the company. Within two years, following the dot com crash, the stock price fell under $1 per share, the company was threatened with delisting, controversies had arisen over financing irregularities and company management, and the company had never had a profitable quarter and was near bankruptcy. [cite news|publisher=CNN|url=http://money.cnn.com/1999/03/18/technology/ivillage/|title=iVillage prices IPO:Online network for women hopes to raise $87.6M in public offering|date=March 18, 1999|accessdate=2008-01-08] [cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,57731,00.html|accessdate=2008-01-08|publisher=Time|title=How Much Did They Lose?|date=Octover 15, 2000|author=Julie Rawe and Eric Roston] In 2001, under new management, the company merged with its main competitor, women.com.

In May, 2006 NBC Universal, Inc. bought the remainder of the company for US$600 million. Deborah Fine is President of iVillage Properties, Linda Boff is Chief Marketing Officer and Carla Wojnaroski is Editor-in-Chief. Its various properties received over 17 million unique visitors for the month of January in 2008, with 18 months of year-over-year growth and almost 4 billion page views per year.Fact|date=January 2008

Television show

iVillage Live was a TV show and webcast produced by NBC Universal. NBC commissioned a set at the Universal Orlando Resort in Florida. [ [http://slideshow.ivillage.com/ivillage_live/the_making_of_ivillage_live/ivillage_live_the_show.html iVillage Live > The Making of iVillage Live > iVillage Live: The Show ] ] In September 2007, production was moved to Chicago Illinois, and the show was retitled "In the Loop with iVillage". The five original hosts were replaced by comedian Kim Coles; "The Apprentice (US Season 1)" winner Apprentice winner Bill Rancic and "The Apprentice (US Season 1)" contestant Ereka Vetrini.Fact|date=January 2008

External links

* [http://www.ivillage.com/ iVillage - official site]

References