Spectre Brands

GhostOnline community and home pages · New York, New York

theglobe.com

Incorporated May 1, 1995. Community site closed Aug 15, 2001.

For one Friday in November 1998 it was the most successful stock offering in history. It never made a profit.

Why ghost: The community site closed on August 15, 2001 and the last operating business was sold in 2008, but theglobe.com, inc. still exists as a shell company under its old name: it filed its annual report for 2025 in April 2026, with no employees and no operations.111315

Original illustration of a late-1990s home page on a beige monitor, with a globe and a visitor counter. Not an official asset; the page and the globe are our own drawing.

theglobe.com let people build free home pages, join chat rooms and post on message boards, and sold advertising against the traffic. Its initial public offering in November 1998 was priced at $9 a share and closed its first day at $63.50, a record gain that came to stand for the bubble. The company then raised another $65M, bought games sites and a web host, and lost $103.9M in 2000 alone. When the online advertising market fell apart it closed the community, sold the games sites and became, by 2008, a public company with nothing in it. This page is built from its SEC filings, which run without a break from 1998 to 2026, and from the press of the time.

The company in four numbers

$63.50
first-day closing price on November 13, 1998, after an offering price of $913
$29.9M
revenue in 2000, its best year, against a net loss of $103.9M7
$217.1M
lost in total from 1996 to 2002 (derived from the annual reports)711
0
employees as of March 23, 2026, when the shell company filed its latest annual report15

Key findings

  1. The IPO day was the peak of the story, not the business. The shares closed at $63.50 on the first day, about $31.75 after the 1999 stock split. No quarter afterwards closed higher than $39.47, and by the fourth quarter of 2000 the high was $0.84.357
  2. It sold advertising and spent more than it took in. In 2000 revenue was $29.9M. Sales and marketing alone cost $23.9M, and total operating expenses were $115.9M.7
  3. It bought growth with its stock. Attitude Network cost $46.8M in 1999, Webjump $13.0M and Chips & Bits $15.3M in 2000, paid largely in shares. In 2000 and 2001 the company wrote off or amortized $94.1M (derived) of goodwill and intangibles and restructuring.5711
  4. The advertising market decided the end. The company said it closed the community “due to the significant and prolonged decline in the Internet advertising sector.”8

Post-mortem No. 020 · Every figure links to a numbered source · Derived figures, estimates and unverified claims are labeled

The story

Free home pages, a record IPO and a shell

theglobe.com had two lives as a public company. In the first it was a web community with a famous stock. In the second it was a holding company looking for a business, and for most of the last eighteen years it has had none.

Chapter 1 of 5

2M

members claimed in the November 1998 prospectus

Original illustration of a 1990s personal home page. Not an official asset.

1995 – 1998 · A dorm-room community

Home pages, chat and a chairman from Florida

Todd V. Krizelman and Stephan J. Paternot founded the company in May 1995, when both were students at Cornell University.110 The site let people “publish their own content and interact with others having similar interests”: free home pages, discussion forums, chat, e-mail, horoscopes and personals. Almost all of the money came from selling advertising.1

The largest shareholder was Dancing Bear Investments, controlled by Michael S. Egan, who became chairman.1 By the autumn of 1998 the prospectus counted over 2 million members and 7.5 million unique visitors in October. It also showed a company losing far more than it took in: $5.8M lost in the nine months to September 1998.1

Chapter 2 of 5

606%

first-day gain on November 13, 1998, from $9 to $63.50

News segment · 1998CNN, Business Unusual: theglobe.com IPO coverage CNN’s coverage of the offering, recorded off the air and uploaded with the title “TGLO’s IPO Coverage.” The stock closed its first day at $63.50, up 606%.3 The date is inferred from the subject; the uploader gives no air date. Watch on YouTube

Oct – Nov 1998 · The offering

Postponed in October, a record in November

The offering was meant to price on October 20, 1998 at $11 to $13 a share. That day the range was cut to $8 to $10, and two days later the deal was shelved because the market was weak.2

Three weeks later it came back. Bear Stearns priced 3.1 million shares at $9 on November 12, raising $27.9M.12 On Friday, November 13 the stock opened on Nasdaq at about 11 a.m. at $67, touched $97 and closed at $63.50, up 606%. That beat the record set four months earlier by Broadcast.com, which had risen 249%.23 At the close the market valued the company at about $635M.2 Many of the funds that had bought at $9 sold that same day to individual investors at far higher prices; the company kept only what it had raised at $9.2

Chapter 3 of 5

$20.00

price per share in the May 1999 follow-on offering

Original illustration of a stock ticker board. The prices shown are not real quotes.

1999 · Spending the stock

$65M more, and three acquisitions

In May 1999 the company split its stock two-for-one and sold another 3.5 million shares at $20.00, netting $65.0M.56 It bought the online store factorymall.com (Azazz.com) in February for $22.8M, the British games network Attitude Network (Games Domain, Kids Domain, Console Domain) in April for $46.8M, and in December the web host Webjump for $13.0M, all paid partly or largely in shares.511 In February 2000 it added Chips & Bits, a games retailer, and Strategy Plus, publisher of Computer Games magazine, for about $15.3M.11

The audience grew: by December 1999 it reported 4.7 million unique users and over 3.6 million registered members, with another 600,000 at Webjump.5 So did the losses. The company lost $49.6M in 1999 on revenue of $18.6M, and had about 220 full-time employees at the end of the year.57

Chapter 4 of 5

$103.9M

net loss in 2000, on revenue of $29.9M

Original illustration of a browser window with a closing notice. Not a capture of the real page.

2000 – 2001 · The advertising crash

A $103.9M year, then the switch-off

Revenue rose to $29.9M in 2000, the best year the company had. It lost $103.9M, including $41.3M of restructuring and impairment charges and $27.2M of goodwill amortization.7 The founders, by then described as the former co-chief executives, were replaced as chief executive by Charles Peck in July 2000.7 Nasdaq delisted the shares in April 2001, and they moved to the bulletin board.11

On August 3, 2001 the company said it would close the community at www.theglobe.com and the Webjump hosting service on August 15, and cut 60 jobs, 49% of its workforce, “due to the significant and prolonged decline in the Internet advertising sector.”8 Peck said the community operations “contribute disproportionately to our operating losses.”9 Variety put the staff at 121, against “upward of 350” at the peak; the share price was under 25 cents.10

Chapter 5 of 5

0

employees as of March 23, 2026

Original illustration of an empty filing cabinet. Not an official asset.

2001 – 2026 · The afterlife of a ticker

Games, phones, .travel, then nothing

The games sites were sold in pieces: Games Domain and Console Domain to British Telecommunications and Kids Domain to Kaboose in October 2001, Happy Puppy in February 2002. Egan became chief executive in June 2002, when the company had about 21 employees and a print magazine.11

Under Egan it bought internet telephony assets in November 2002 and Tralliance, the registry for the .travel domain, in May 2005. It shut both the games and telephony businesses in March 2007.12 On September 29, 2008 it sold Tralliance to a company controlled by Egan, for the cancellation of $4.25M of notes plus interest and unpaid rent, and issued that company 229 million new shares. From then on it was a shell.1315

In December 2017 Egan and his companies agreed to sell their 70.9% to Delfin Midstream.14 The shell still files with the SEC. Its 2025 annual report says it had no employees and that its liabilities exceeded its assets.15

Timeline

Thirty-one years, 27 moments

From a student project to a shell company that still files quarterly reports. Filter by thread.

All 27 events as a list
  1. May 11995
    Corporate

    Incorporated

    Todd V. Krizelman and Stephan J. Paternot found the company; it is incorporated on May 1, 1995.111

  2. 1997
    Corporate

    The chairman’s agreement

    Michael Egan, his company Dancing Bear Investments, the two founders and two directors sign a stockholders’ agreement on board nominees.7

  3. Oct 201998
    Money & stock

    Offering cut

    The planned range of $11 to $13 a share is cut to $8 to $10.2

  4. Oct 221998
    Money & stock

    Offering shelved

    The company postpones the IPO because of weak demand.2

  5. Nov 121998
    Money & stock

    Priced at $9

    3.1 million shares are priced at $9, raising $27.9M.12

  6. Nov 131998
    Money & stock

    A record first day

    The stock opens at $67, touches $97 and closes at $63.50, up 606%, a record first-day gain.23

  7. Feb1999
    Sites & services

    An online store

    Buys factorymall.com (Azazz.com) for $22.8M and turns it into shop.theglobe.com.5

  8. Apr1999
    Sites & services

    Games sites from Britain

    Buys Attitude Network, owner of Games Domain, Kids Domain and Console Domain, for $46.8M.5

  9. May 141999
    Money & stock

    Stock split

    A two-for-one stock split. Later price tables are adjusted for it.7

  10. May1999
    Money & stock

    $65M more

    A follow-on offering sells 3.5 million new shares at $20.00, for net proceeds of $65.0M.56

  11. Dec1999
    Sites & services

    Web hosting

    Buys the web-hosting assets of Webjump for $13.0M, mostly in shares.11

  12. Dec 311999
    Corporate

    220 employees

    The year ends with about 220 full-time staff, 4.7 million unique users and 3.6 million registered members.5

  13. Feb2000
    Sites & services

    Games magazine

    Buys Chips & Bits and Strategy Plus, publisher of Computer Games magazine, for about $15.3M.11

  14. Jul2000
    Corporate

    A new chief executive

    Charles Peck becomes chief executive, replacing the founders.7

  15. 2000
    Money & stock

    The $103.9M year

    Revenue peaks at $29.9M; the net loss is $103.9M, including $41.3M of restructuring and impairment charges.7

  16. Apr2001
    Money & stock

    Delisted

    Nasdaq delists the stock; it moves to the over-the-counter bulletin board.11

  17. Aug 32001
    Shutdown & shell

    Closure announced

    The company says it will close the community and Webjump and cut 60 jobs, 49% of staff.8910

  18. Aug 152001
    Shutdown & shell

    The site goes dark

    The community at www.theglobe.com closes.11

  19. Oct2001
    Sites & services

    Games sites sold

    Games Domain and Console Domain go to British Telecommunications, Kids Domain to Kaboose.11

  20. Feb2002
    Sites & services

    Happy Puppy sold

    The Happy Puppy games site is sold to Internet Game Distribution.11

  21. Jun 12002
    Corporate

    Egan takes over

    Chairman Michael Egan becomes chief executive. By December the company has about 21 employees.11

  22. Nov 142002
    Sites & services

    Internet phones

    The company buys voice-over-IP assets for warrants.12

  23. May 92005
    Sites & services

    .travel

    Acquires Tralliance, the registry for the .travel domain.12

  24. Mar2007
    Shutdown & shell

    Games and phones shut

    Management decides to shut the computer games and telephony businesses.12

  25. Sep 292008
    Shutdown & shell

    A shell

    Tralliance is sold to a company controlled by Egan, which also receives 229 million new shares. theglobe.com has no operating business left.1315

  26. Dec 202017
    Corporate

    New controlling owner

    Egan and his companies agree to sell 70.9% of the shares to Delfin Midstream.1415

  27. Apr 12026
    Shutdown & shell

    Still filing

    The shell files its 2025 annual report. It has no employees, and its liabilities exceed its assets.15

The money

Revenue that never caught up

Every figure here comes from the company’s annual reports on EDGAR. The 2000 and 2002 reports give five years each, and they agree where they overlap. Prices are adjusted for the two-for-one split of May 1999, so the $9 offering price appears as $4.50.

Revenue and net loss, 1996–2002

$ millions, by calendar year.

RevenueNet loss
$0M$50M$100M$150M19961997199819992000200120021234$0M$50M$100M$150M19961998200020021234
  1. 1998 · the IPO year Revenue of $5.5M and a loss of $16.0M.7
  2. 2000 · the worst year A $103.9M loss, $68.6M (derived) of it restructuring, impairment and goodwill amortization.7
  3. 2001 · the switch-off The community closed in August 2001; revenue fell to $16.1M.11
  4. 2002 · a magazine company $9.7M of revenue, mostly Computer Games magazine and Chips & Bits.11
Data table
Revenue and net loss, 1996–2002
Year ended December 31RevenueNet loss
1996$0.2M$0.8M
1997$0.8M$3.6M
1998$5.5M$16M
1999$18.6M$49.6M
2000$29.9M$103.9M
2001$16.1M$40.6M
2002$9.7M$2.6M
Annual reports for 20007 and 200211. Net loss is shown as a positive number. Rounded from thousands.

The share price, quarter by quarter

Highest closing price in each quarter, split-adjusted. The first bar covers November 13 to December 31, 1998.

Data table
The share price, quarter by quarter
PeriodHigh close ($)
Q4 98$31.75
Q1 99$33.53
Q2 99$39.47
Q3 99$19.31
Q4 99$16.38
Q1 00$9.06
Q2 00$5.94
Q3 00$2.19
Q4 00$0.84
Q1 01$0.88
Q2 01$0.34
Q3 01$0.23
Q4 01$0.08
Annual reports for 19995, 20007 and 200211. Nasdaq until April 2001, then the OTC bulletin board. The offering price is $9.00 before the split.15

Where the money went in 2000

Operating expenses in the worst year, $ millions. Revenue was $29.9M.

Restructuring and impairment
$41.3M
Goodwill and intangibles amortization
$27.2M
Sales and marketing
$23.9M
Cost of revenues
$19.1M
Not an operating expense in the filing; shown for scale
General and administrative
$13.2M
Product development
$10.2M
Revenue, for comparison
$29.9M
Data table
Where the money went in 2000
Expense$MNote
Restructuring and impairment$41.3M
Goodwill and intangibles amortization$27.2M
Sales and marketing$23.9M
Cost of revenues$19.1MNot an operating expense in the filing; shown for scale
General and administrative$13.2M
Product development$10.2M
Revenue, for comparison$29.9M
Annual report for 2000.7

The first day of trading

$9
offering price per share, set on November 12, 199813
$97
intraday high on November 132
15.7M
shares traded that day, against 3.1 million sold in the offering12
$635M
market value at the close, based on about 10 million shares outstanding2
CBS MarketWatch2, Los Angeles Times3, prospectus1.

One closing price, seven offering prices

$63.50first-day close, November 13, 19983
=
7 ×the offering price the day before1 ($9)

Derived $63.50 ÷ $9.00 ≈ 7.06, shown as 7. A 606% gain.13

Data table
One closing price, seven offering prices
Value
first-day close, November 13, 1998$63.50
the offering price the day before$9
Ratio7 (derived)
Money in, money lost
$27.3Mnet proceeds of the November 1998 offering5
$65.0Mnet proceeds of the May 1999 offering5
$92.3Mraised in the two offerings together (derived)5
$217.1Mtotal net losses, 1996–2002 (derived)711
Annual reports for 1999, 2000 and 2002. The losses exceed the offering proceeds because the acquisitions were paid largely in stock.

Part 3 of 6

Brand

Commercials & footage · Brand gallery

Commercials & footage

The day the stock went to $97

Business television covered the offering live. These are recordings of that coverage, a commercial and later interviews, as uploaded by collectors and podcasters. Where a date comes only from the uploader, the caption says so.

News segment · 1998CNN, Business Unusual: theglobe.com IPO coverage CNN’s coverage of the offering, recorded off the air and uploaded with the title “TGLO’s IPO Coverage.” The stock closed its first day at $63.50, up 606%.3 The date is inferred from the subject; the uploader gives no air date. Watch on YouTube
News segment · 1998CNBC, Business Center: theglobe.com IPO coverage CNBC’s report on the debut, from the same uploader. The prices quoted on air should be checked against the closing figures in our sources.23 Watch on YouTube
Commercial · 1999theglobe.com web horoscope commercial A television spot for the site’s horoscopes, one of the free features the prospectus lists.1 The 1999 date is the uploader’s and we could not confirm it. Watch on YouTube
Documentary · 1999theGlobe.com, New York City, 1999 Stock footage from Journeyman Pictures titled “theGlobe.com, New York City, USA, 1999.” The year and place are the uploader’s description. Watch on YouTube
Interview · 2019Internet History Podcast: theGlobe.com story with Stephan Paternot A long interview with the co-founder, the first of three parts. Embedded as recollection; no figure on this page is taken from it. The year is approximate, from the upload age YouTube shows (“7 years ago” in October 2026). Watch on YouTube

Videos are embedded from the services that host them and load only when you press play. YouTube embeds use youtube-nocookie.com. Each video belongs to its uploader or rights holder and is shown here for commentary; we do not host any of the files.

Part 4 of 6

People

People · Press

The people

Who founded it, who ran it, who owns it

Titles and dates are as given in SEC filings and the press cited. Later careers are left out where we have no source.

People (4)
Name and roleWhat they didAfterwards
Todd V. KrizelmanCo-founder; co-chief executive

Founded the company with Paternot in May 1995 while at Cornell.110 The 2000 annual report describes both as former co-chief executives; together they owned 12% of the shares.7

Stephan J. PaternotCo-founder; co-chief executive

The public face of the offering. Signed a new employment agreement in June 2000, a month before Peck became chief executive.7

Michael S. EganChairman; chief executive from June 2002

Controlled Dancing Bear Investments, the largest shareholder, which owned about 28% of the shares in 2001.71 Ran the company through its telephony and .travel years and bought its last business in 2008.1113

Agreed with his companies to sell their 70.9% to Delfin Midstream in December 2017.14
Charles PeckChief executive, July 2000 – 2002

Hired in July 2000 with options at $1.94 a share. Announced the closure of the community in August 2001.79

The clippings

What they said at the time

Press (5)
Give Theglobe.com credit — and about $700 million — for having perfect timing.
Time, Nov 13, 19984

  1. Tom Taulli, Silicon Investor, to CBS MarketWatch, Nov 13, 19982

    We’re kind of in a mania here. It doesn’t make sense.

  2. David Menlo, IPO Financial Network, to CBS MarketWatch, Nov 13, 19982

    There’s nothing innovative or singular about the company.

  3. Chuck Peck, chief executive, Aug 3, 2001, as quoted by InternetNews9

    We are not in a position to sustain our online business operations in the long term.

  4. Variety, Aug 5, 200110

    A symbol of Internet-era excess.

Part 5 of 6

Verdict

Cause of death · What if · Afterlife

Cause of death

The autopsy

Tap a cause to see the evidence. The percentages are our editorial weighting. The evidence under each one is sourced.

Cause of death, by editorial weight

One square is one percentage point. The weights are our judgment, not a measurement.

  1. 40%A free service paid for by banner ads
  2. 25%Acquisitions paid in a bubble currency
  3. 20%A stock price set by a frenzy
  4. 15%A crowded, copyable idea
Data table
Cause of death, by editorial weight
CauseWeight
A free service paid for by banner ads40%
Acquisitions paid in a bubble currency25%
A stock price set by a frenzy20%
A crowded, copyable idea15%

The prospectus named advertising as the main source of revenue.1 In its best year the company took in $29.9M and spent $23.9M on sales and marketing alone; total operating expenses were $115.9M.7 When the market for online advertising fell, the company said the decline was the reason it closed the community, which contributed “disproportionately” to its losses.89

With its shares near their peak the company bought factorymall ($22.8M), Attitude Network ($46.8M), Webjump ($13.0M) and Chips & Bits and Strategy Plus ($15.3M), mostly in stock.511 In 2000 and 2001 it booked $58.4M of restructuring and impairment charges and $35.7M of goodwill amortization (both derived).711

The record first day made the company famous but raised only $27.9M before fees.2 Analysts at the time called it a mania: “There’s nothing innovative or singular about the company,” one told CBS MarketWatch.2 The share price fell from a quarterly high of $39.47 in mid-1999 to $0.84 by the end of 2000, which ruled out raising more equity.57

GeoCities offered the same free home pages and had more members: 2.5 million to theglobe.com’s 2 million in November 1998.2 Variety’s obituary called theglobe.com “a symbol of Internet-era excess.”10

Editorial judgment: The weights are our judgment of how much each factor contributed. Reasonable readers could weigh them differently.

The fork in the road

What if…

Three decisions where the story could have gone differently. The “What if” panels are speculation, labeled as such.

What happened

The offering was priced at $9 after a postponement and closed the day at $63.50. The company raised $27.9M.23

What if speculative

A price nearer the first-day trading range would have put far more cash in the company. It would not have changed the business, which was losing money on every dollar of revenue, but it might have bought another year or two.

What happened

In 1999 and early 2000 the company spent its stock and cash on four acquisitions, then wrote much of the goodwill off.5711

What if speculative

Holding the $65.0M from the 1999 offering in reserve would have given it a cushion when advertising dried up in 2001. Communities with cheaper costs, such as later social networks, show that the audience was real; the cost base was the problem.

What happened

Its larger rival GeoCities was bought by Yahoo in 1999, near the top of the market.

What if speculative

A sale while the shares were above $30 would have handed the problem to a bigger company. Whether the community would have survived inside one is another question; GeoCities itself was closed by Yahoo in 2009.

Where are they now

The afterlife

theglobe.com

  1. The company

    Shell

    theglobe.com, inc. still exists and still files. Its 2025 annual report, filed April 1, 2026, ticks the box for a shell company, reports no employees as of March 23, 2026, and says its liabilities exceed its assets. It says it would prefer to avoid filing for bankruptcy.15

  2. The community

    Switched off

    The site at www.theglobe.com closed on August 15, 2001, together with Webjump.811 We could not load the Internet Archive while researching this page, so we have not shown captures of it.

  3. The games sites

    Sold on

    Games Domain and Console Domain went to British Telecommunications and Kids Domain to Kaboose in October 2001; Happy Puppy followed in February 2002. Computer Games magazine and Chips & Bits were shut in 2007.1112

  4. .travel

    Sold on

    The .travel registry, Tralliance, went to a company controlled by Michael Egan on September 29, 2008, with an earn-out of 10% of net revenue from .travel names through May 5, 2015.13

  5. The founders

    Moved on

    Krizelman and Paternot left the chief executive’s office by July 2000, when Charles Peck took it.7 We have not traced their later careers to sources we could check and leave them out.

Who controlled the name

Control of the company that owns theglobe.com name, from the founders to a shell’s new owner.

  1. May 1995

    Krizelman and Paternot

    Found the company at Cornell.110

  2. 1997

    Michael Egan / Dancing Bear

    The largest shareholder and chairman; a stockholders’ agreement shares board seats with the founders.17

  3. Nov 1998

    Public (Nasdaq: TGLO)

    The record IPO.13

    $9.00 a share
  4. Apr 2001

    Public (OTC bulletin board)

    Delisted from Nasdaq.11

  5. Sep 2008

    Egan-controlled companies

    Receive 229 million new shares with the Tralliance deal; the company becomes a shell.13

  6. Dec 2017

    Delfin Midstream

    Agrees to buy 70.9% of the shares from Egan and his companies.14

Data table
Who controlled the name
WhenOwnerWhat happenedPrice
May 1995Krizelman and PaternotFound the company at Cornell.
1997Michael Egan / Dancing BearThe largest shareholder and chairman; a stockholders’ agreement shares board seats with the founders.
Nov 1998Public (Nasdaq: TGLO)The record IPO.$9.00 a share
Apr 2001Public (OTC bulletin board)Delisted from Nasdaq.
Sep 2008Egan-controlled companiesReceive 229 million new shares with the Tralliance deal; the company becomes a shell.
Dec 2017Delfin MidstreamAgrees to buy 70.9% of the shares from Egan and his companies.
SEC filings.17111314

Sources & data notes

Show your work

theglobe.com filed with the SEC from its 1998 offering to today, so most figures come from its own prospectuses and annual reports. The offering day and the shutdown are also taken from contemporary press. Every link was opened while this page was researched.

  1. theglobe.com, inc., prospectus (Form 424B4) for the initial public offering, SEC EDGAR, filed Nov 13, 1998.
  2. Steve Gelsi, “Internet IPO Theglobe.com Soars”, CBS MarketWatch, via CBS News, Nov 13, 1998.
  3. Walter Hamilton, “Theglobe.com Sets Record for 1st-Day Trading”, Los Angeles Times, Nov 14, 1998.
  4. Frank Pellegrini, “Money for Nothing”, Time, Nov 13, 1998.
  5. theglobe.com, inc., annual report (Form 10-K) for 1999, SEC EDGAR, filed Mar 30, 2000.
  6. theglobe.com, inc., prospectus (Form 424B4) for the follow-on offering, SEC EDGAR, filed May 20, 1999.
  7. theglobe.com, inc., annual report (Form 10-K405) for 2000, SEC EDGAR, filed Apr 2, 2001.
  8. theglobe.com, inc., quarterly report (Form 10-Q) for the quarter to June 30, 2001, SEC EDGAR, filed Aug 14, 2001.
  9. Christopher Saunders, “theglobe.com to Close Communities”, InternetNews, Aug 4, 2001.
  10. Marc Graser, “Orbit decays as Globe shuts sites”, Variety, Aug 5, 2001.
  11. theglobe.com, inc., annual report (Form 10-K) for 2002, SEC EDGAR, filed Mar 31, 2003.
  12. theglobe.com, inc., annual report (Form 10-K) for 2007, SEC EDGAR, filed Mar 27, 2008.
  13. theglobe.com, inc., current report (Form 8-K) on the sale of Tralliance, SEC EDGAR, filed Oct 3, 2008.
  14. theglobe.com, inc., current report (Form 8-K) on a change in control, SEC EDGAR, filed Dec 21, 2017.
  15. theglobe.com, inc., annual report (Form 10-K) for 2025, SEC EDGAR, filed Apr 1, 2026.
Data notes (6)

Data notes

Derived: $217.1M of total net losses is the sum of the reported losses for 1996 to 2002: $0.75M, $3.585M, $16.046M, $49.601M, $103.866M, $40.620M and $2.615M.711 $92.3M raised is $27.3M + $65.0M net proceeds.5 $94.1M of write-offs and amortization in 2000–2001 is $41.348M + $27.236M + $17.091M + $8.469M; $58.4M and $35.7M are the restructuring and amortization parts.711 $68.6M in 2000 is $41.348M + $27.236M.7 The 7.06 ratio is $63.50 ÷ $9.00.13 The $4.50 split-adjusted offering price is stated in the 1999 annual report.5

Conflicts: CBS MarketWatch put the first-day gain at “about 605 percent”; the Los Angeles Times at 606%, which we use.23 Time put the market value at about $691M, CBS MarketWatch at $635M; we use CBS’s figure, which states its share count.24 Variety says the company was founded in 1994; the prospectus says May 1995, which we use.110 Variety says staff peaked at “upward of 350”; the annual reports give about 220 at the end of 1999 and 197 at the end of 2000. The peak may have fallen between year-ends; we report both.5710 InternetNews put the staff at about 120 and Variety at 121 in August 2001.910

Not charted: We do not chart 2003 to 2008, when results were split between continuing and discontinued businesses (games, telephony and .travel) and restated more than once. The share-price chart stops at the end of 2001; the 2002 quarterly highs were between $0.08 and $0.17.11

Videos: The air dates of the two IPO news recordings are inferred from their subject; the uploader gives none. The commercial’s year and the stock footage’s description are the uploaders’. The podcast interview is embedded as recollection and no figure here is taken from it.

Images: The Internet Archive’s availability service did not respond while this page was researched, so there are no screenshots of the site. All drawings are original; the accent colour is our own choice and was not sampled from the brand.

General knowledge: That Yahoo bought GeoCities in 1999 and closed it in 2009.

More post-mortems

Pets.com

1998 – 2000

Dead
Unit economics
270 days from IPO to wind-down

Webvan

1996 – 2001

Dead
Overexpansion
$827M cumulative net loss, 1998 to Mar 2001

Groupon

2008 – present

Ghost
A fad that faded
−84% revenue, 2014 peak to 2025 (derived)

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