TheGlobe.com

Infobox_Company
company_name = theGlobe.com
company_
company_type = Public (otcbb|TGLO)
foundation = 1994
location = New York, Fort Lauderdale
key_people = Michael Egan
Ed Cespedes
num_employees = 120 at peak
industry = Social Networking, Media
products = Chat, Message boards, Computer Games Magazine, GloPhone
homepage = [http://web.archive.org/web/20010104003800/www.theglobe.com/ http://www.theglobe.com] (Archive)|

theGlobe.com was an internet startup founded in 1994 [ [http://news.com.com/TheGlobe.com+to+cut+staff,+fold+sites/2100-1023_3-271110.html TheGlobe.com to Cut Staff, Fold Sites] at news.com. Dated August 3, 2001. Retrieved on June 27, 2007.] by Cornell students Stephan Paternot and Todd Krizelman. A social networking service, theGlobe.com made headlines by going public on November 13, 1998 and posting the largest first day gain of any IPO in history up to that date. [" [http://news.com.com/2100-1023-217913.html TheGlobe.com's IPO One for the Books] " at news.com. Dated November 13, 1998. Retrieved on June 27, 2007.] The company soon failed, and the company retrenched for the next several years before mostly ceasing operations.

History

Early success

While undergraduates at Cornell, Paternot and Krizelman encountered a primitive chatroom on the university's computer network and quickly became engrossed. [" [http://www.smartmoney.com/mymoney/index.cfm?story=20010806 The Story of Bubble Boy] ", review of Stephan Paternot's book, A Very Public Offering: A Rebel's Story of Business, Excess, Success and Reckoning at smartmoney.com. Dated August 6, 2001. Retrieved on June 27, 2007.] Realizing the business potential, the two raised $15,000 over the 1994 Christmas break and purchased an Apple Internet Server. They founded a programming company, WebGenesis, and spent the next few months programming what would become their primary website. theGlobe.com went live April 1, 1995, and attracted over 44,000 visits within the first month. [" [http://www.news.cornell.edu/chronicle/96/4.11.96/webgenesis.html A Student-created Company is the Talk of the Web] ", Cornell Chronicle. Dated April 11, 1996. Retrieved on June 27, 2007.] They readily recruited talent from the Cornell computer science department and had 17 employees by the site's first anniversary. [" [http://www.news.cornell.edu/chronicle/96/4.11.96/webgenesis.html A Student-created Company is the Talk of the Web] ", Cornell Chronicle. Dated April 11, 1996. Retrieved on June 27, 2007.]

The pair used the popularity of the site and the increasing interest in the internet in 1997 to secure $20 million in financing through Dancing Bear Investments. As a result, Paternot and Krizelman received salaries in excess of $100,000 and revenues from preferred shares sales of $500,000 each. Both were 23 years old at the time. [" [http://www.smartmoney.com/mymoney/index.cfm?story=20010806 The Story of Bubble Boy] ", review of Stephan Paternot's book, A Very Public Offering: A Rebel's Story of Business, Excess, Success and Reckoning at smartmoney.com. Dated August 6, 2001. Retrieved on June 27, 2007.]

In 1998, plans were made to take the company public. On Friday, November 13, 1998, theGlobe.com issued its IPO. The stock's target share price was initially set at $9, yet the first trade was at $87 and the price climbed as high as $97 before closing at $63.50. At the end of the trading day, the company had set a record for IPOs with a 606% increase over the initial share price. [" [http://news.com.com/2100-1023-217913.html TheGlobe.com's IPO One for the Books] " at news.com. Dated November 13, 1998. Retrieved on June 27, 2007.] The company floated 3.1 million shares, raising $27.9 million and bringing its market capitalization to over $840 million. [" [http://news.com.com/2100-1023-217913.html TheGlobe.com's IPO One for the Books] " at news.com. Dated November 13, 1998. Retrieved on June 27, 2007.] Based on their holdings, the young founders were worth close to $100 million each. [" [http://www.thestreet.com/tech/georgemannes/10000562.html Spinning theglobe: The Net Bubble Through the Eyes of Callow Youth ] ", review of Stephan Paternot's book, A Very Public Offering: A Rebel's Story of Business, Excess, Success and Reckoning at thestreet.com. Dated September 1, 2001. Retrieved on June 27, 2007.]

During the late 1990s, theGlobe.com expanded into gaming, purchasing Computer Games magazine, happypuppy.com (a computer gaming site), and Chips and Bits, an online store for computer and console gaming.

Decline and downfall

As the fortunes of a number of very young people grew literally overnight, the public and the media began to scrutinize these new economy wunderkinds. In 1999, CNN filmed Paternot during a night on the town. He was shown in shiny leather pants, dancing on a table at a trendy Manhattan night club with his girlfriend, model Jennifer Medley. During the piece, he made the statement, "Got the girl. Got the money. Now I'm ready to live a disgusting, frivolous life." [" [http://www.savp.com/inTheNews.php?id=7 Flying at High Altitude] ", at Silicon Alley Venture Partners, LLC. Originally published in Crain's New York Business. Dated May 31, 2004. Retrieved on June 27, 2007.] [" [http://www.guardian.co.uk/internetnews/story/0,,488346,00.html So Who's Crying Over Spilt Milk?] ", at The Guardian (UK). Dated May 10, 2001. Retrieved on June 27, 2007.] He was derisively dubbed "the CEO in the plastic pants" and became a visible symbol of the excesses of dot-com millionaires.

That year also marked the change in the momentum of the dot com boom and theGlobe.com's stock price was hit heavily. As investors grew increasingly skeptical of the "new economy", share prices began to decline rapidly. theGlobe.com saw its share price drop from a high of $97 to less than a dime [" [http://www.thestreet.com/tech/georgemannes/10000562.html Spinning theglobe: The Net Bubble Through the Eyes of Callow Youth ] ", review of Stephan Paternot's book, A Very Public Offering: A Rebel's Story of Business, Excess, Success and Reckoning at thestreet.com. Dated September 1, 2001. Retrieved on June 27, 2007.] and its market capitalization shrink by more than 95% to around $4 million [ [http://news.com.com/TheGlobe.com+to+cut+staff,+fold+sites/2100-1023_3-271110.html TheGlobe.com to Cut Staff, Fold Sites] at news.com. Dated August 3, 2001. Retrieved on June 27, 2007.] in 2001.

In 2000, Paternot and Krizelman were forced out of the company and it was taken over by a former VP of the AICPA [" [http://www.smartmoney.com/mymoney/index.cfm?story=20010806 The Story of Bubble Boy] ", review of Stephan Paternot's book, A Very Public Offering: A Rebel's Story of Business, Excess, Success and Reckoning at smartmoney.com. Dated August 6, 2001. Retrieved on June 27, 2007.] , but the company, which had never turned a profit, was forced to cut back severely. theGlobe.com shutdown its flagship site and laid off 50% of its employees in August 2001. [ [http://news.com.com/TheGlobe.com+to+cut+staff,+fold+sites/2100-1023_3-271110.html TheGlobe.com to Cut Staff, Fold Sites] at news.com. Dated August 3, 2001. Retrieved on June 27, 2007.] The company continued hosting some of its partner sites and publishing Computer Games, but the domain of www.theglobe.com displayed nothing more than an informational message about the site's termination until 2003.

That year, theGlobe.com launched GloPhone, a VoIP phone service similar to Skype, and used its eponymous domain as the product's website. Although teamed with networking site Friendster, reviews were bad [" [http://www.henshall.com/blog/archives/001011.html Friendster Phone Stupid Execution] " Dated October 15, 2004. Retrieved on June 27, 2007.] and sales were poor. A lawsuit was filed by Sprint Nextel for patent infringement. [" [http://gigaom.com/2005/11/22/glophone-losing-its-glow/ GloPhone Losing its Glow?] " Dated November 22, 2005. Retrieved on June 27, 2007.] theGlobe.com had continued publishing Computer Games and it was considered one of the top 3 PC gaming magazines in the US (along with Ziff Davis' Games for Windows and Future Publishing's PC Gamer). [" [http://gigagamez.com/2007/03/13/game-mags-gone-because-of-myspace-spam/ Game Mags Gone Because of MySpace Spam?] " Dated March 13, 2007. Retrieved on June 27, 2007.] The company expanded its print enterprises to include Now Playing magazine (2005) and MMO Games magazine (2006), publications focusing on popular entertainment and massively multiplayer gaming, respectively. theGlobe.com made a decision to send unsolicited messages to MySpace.com users and was subsequently sued under the CAN-SPAM act and a similar anti-spam law in California [" [http://gigagamez.com/2007/03/13/game-mags-gone-because-of-myspace-spam/ Game Mags Gone Because of MySpace Spam?] " Dated March 13, 2007. Retrieved on June 27, 2007.] . A California court ruled against theGlobe.com. Subsequently, the magazines stopped publication, Chips & Bits' home page announced the site's closing, and GloPhone ceased operations on March 13, 2007. [" [http://gigaom.com/2007/03/16/glophone-dead-phone-calling/ GloPhone, Dead Phone Calling] " Dated March 16, 2007. Retrieved on June 27, 2007.] The anticipation of a large federal judgement (estimated as high as $120 million) effectively spelled the end of theGlobe.com. [" [http://gigagamez.com/2007/03/13/game-mags-gone-because-of-myspace-spam/ Game Mags Gone Because of MySpace Spam?] " Dated March 13, 2007. Retrieved on June 27, 2007.] Although most of the company's activity has ceased, the stock is still publicly traded. [ [http://quotes.nasdaq.com/asp/SummaryQuote.asp?symbol=TGLO&selected=TGLO Today's quote] for TGLO from NASDAQ.]

Present day

As of June, 2007, the domain theglobe.com redirects to the home page of the Tralliance Corporation, a group which maintains the .travel top-level domain. Tralliance is a shortening of the name Travel Alliance. [ [http://www.theglobe.com/ Tralliance homepage] Retrieved on June 27, 2007]

References

External links

* [http://www.theglobe.com theGlobe.com's] current website. Redirects to Tralliance Corporation as of June, 2007
* [http://www.paternot.com Stephan Paternot's] official website
* [http://news.com.com/2100-1023-223841.html 1999 Interview] with Paternot and Krizelman