Alladvantage 公司的故事

Alladvantage 公司的故事

AllAdvantage 於 1999 年 三月由幾位史丹福大學 MBA 畢業生成立，在兩年時間的運作裡，Alladvantage 成功籌集 二億美元風險資本(venture capital) ，並且有高達 一千萬會員加盟。這公司以回饋會員推薦其他朋友加盟的方式，成為當時互聯網世界上最多人推廣的網站之一！ 跟據市場調查公司 Nielsen/NetRatings 的報告，Alladvantage 在千禧年時擠身在互聯網世界上頭二十位交通流量最高的網站之一！

但 Alladvantage 最終敵不過 公元二千年科網泡沫的爆破與及隨後美國經濟的急速衰落！事實上早於 2000 年初，Alladvantage 已積極推動公司上市，該上市計劃由著名的投資銀行 第一波士頍瑞士信貸銀行 作承銷商！然而科網泡沫爆破導致了股市衰落，Alladvantage 的上市計劃受到打擊。 於此同時，該公司積極尋求其他收入來源，但公司最終於 2001 年 1月結束了運作！而截至 Alladvantage 停止營運的一刻，公司已將高達 一億六千萬美元的收入，派發予各會員 。................................................................................................ ( 資料來源: 英文維基百科)

以下是英文原文: -

AllAdvantage was launched on March 31, 1999, by Jim Jorgensen, Johannes Pohle, Carl Anderson, and Oliver Brock. During its nearly 2 years of operation, it raised nearly $200 Million in venture capital and grew to more than 10 million members in its first 18 months of operation. [2] The company's practice of compensating existing members for referring new members led it to become one of the most heavily promoted websites of its time. That popularity was reflected in the ranking of AllAdvantage.com among the top 20 of many website traffic indices during most of the company's existence, including Nielsen//NetRatings. [3] [4]

AllAdvantage ultimately fell victim to the sharp decline in advertising spending as the dot-com bubble burst and the U.S. economy entered a recessionary period in mid-2000. AllAdvantage planned an initial public offering of stock in early 2000, underwritten by renowned investment banker Frank Quattrone and his firm Credit Suisse First Boston.[5] As the IPO market continued to sour through mid-2000, the offering plans were cancelled. The company continued to seek new sources of revenue and expanded its offerings to include sweepstakes.[6] But the company finally halted consumer-facing operations in February 2001. By the time it closed its doors, the company had paid out over $160 million to its members.

Industry contributions

AllAdvantage contributed several enduring concepts to the online marketpace. For example, the company’s Viewbar software was one of the earliest desktop user tracking and ad targeting technologies. The Viewbar displayed advertisements in a narrow application window that could be docked to the bottom of the user's screen, targeting those advertisements to the content being viewed by the user as they browsed websites. The same technologies, minus the permission of users or monetary compensation, became the basis of the adware and spyware industries.[7]

The company also appointed the world's first corporate Chief Privacy Officer, creating the role as a senior level executive responsible for protecting the privacy and security of user data and managing a variety of risks and threats to the integrity of the service.[8] The company appointed privacy lawyer Ray Everett-Church to the newly created position in August 1999, starting a trend that quickly spread among major corporations, both offline and online. By 2001, the non-profit research organization Privacy and American Business reported that a significant number of Fortune 500 firms had appointed senior executives with the title or role of Chief Privacy Officer.[9]
AllAdvantage is perhaps most remembered for its successful adaptation of the "viral marketing" concept, a term first coined by the venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson. In viral marketing, members of the service promote it to their friends and acquaintances, which AllAdvantage enhanced by adding a compensation component, rewarding users for the number of members they successfully referred. In a May 2000 article for Red Herring magazine, Steve Jurvetson cited AllAdvantage as a prime example of viral marketing success.[10]

Spin-off companies

On 20 November 2006, it was reported that several AllAdvantage founders were reincarnating the business as a new company, AGLOCO (which stands for "A Global Community").

(source: Wikipedia)