uBid
 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Online auction and fixed-price merchandise |
| Founded | Chicago, Illinois, USA (1997) |
| Headquarters | United States  |
Key people | Bob Geras, Chairman Ketan Thakker, CEO/CFO |
| Products | Consumer merchandise including electronics, computers, jewelry, fine art, housewares, computer accessories, and computers |
| Website | www |
uBid.com was an online auction style and fixed-price shopping website offering goods sold directly by the company and items sold by pre-approved third-party merchants. The site specialized in excess new, refurbished, and overstock consumer electronics such as computers, electronics, home goods, jewelry, watches, and cellular phones.
History
[edit]uBid.com was formed and launched in 1997, originally as a subsidiary of PC Mall. In December 1998, during the dot-com bubble, the company became a public company via an initial public offering, and achieved a market capitalization of over $1.8 billion at one point. After pricing at $15/share, the stock price reached $67 per share on its first day of trading.[1][2] The company officially spun off from PC Mall with its co-founding management team in 1999. Ownership has changed multiple times over the years.[3][4][5] In 2000, CMGI (now Steel Connect) acquired uBid in a stock transaction.[6] In June 2001, the company reached an agreement to feature its listings on Yahoo! Auctions.[7] In November 2002, the company laid off 52 employees.[8] In 2003, CMGI sold uBid to Takumi Interactive, owned by Tom Petters and Petters Group Worldwide.[9] In 2006, the company acquired the assets of Bidville.com.[10]
In 2010 the company underwent an involuntary bankruptcy petition.[11] In October 2018, the company merged with Incumaker and in February 2019, the company changed its name to uBid Holdings, Inc. In 2020, the company began rebranding itself as a restaurant and entertainment digital coupon company after purchasing Restaurant.com and was renamed to RDE, Inc.[12] As of 2022, the uBid website had been taken offline.
Notes
[edit]- ^ "uBid IPO soars four-fold". CNN. December 4, 1998.
- ^ "Shares of uBid More Than Triple In Latest Successful Internet IPO". The Wall Street Journal. December 4, 1998.
- ^ "CMGI To Acquire uBid.com". Retrieved 2009-12-01.
- ^ "Takumi Interactive, Inc. Purchases uBid Business". Retrieved 2009-12-01.
- ^ "Pink-Slip Monday for Ecommerce with uBid, eBay Layoffs". Retrieved 2009-12-30.
- ^ "CMGI Agrees to Buy uBid In $407 Million Stock Deal". The Wall Street Journal. February 10, 2000.
- ^ "uBid to sell on Yahoo! Auctions". American City Business Journals. June 20, 2001.
- ^ "STATE OF ILLINOIS MONTHLY WARN ACTIVITY LISTING" (PDF). November 2002.
- ^ Brown, Rodney (March 31, 2003). "CMGI sells uBid to Minnesota company". American City Business Journals.
- ^ "uBid.com Holdings, Inc. Acquires Auction Assets of Bidville, Inc" (Press release). Globe Newswire. July 27, 2006.
- ^ "uBid Auction Site's Parent Enable Holdings Forced into Bankruptcy". Retrieved 2011-08-03.
- ^ staff (December 8, 2020). "uBid Holdings Changed Name to RDE, Inc. to Better Reflect its Focus". Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
External links
[edit]- uBid.com (Dead link)
