On March 1 it’s always a good reminder to look back at marchFIRST — an example of what big money and power thought was a good idea just 10 years ago.
- The original USWeb was founded in 1995 by a group of former Novell executives (Joe Firmage, Toby Corey, and Sheldon Laube)
- USWeb went public with an IPO in 1997
- USWeb agreed to buy the offline advertising agency, CKS Group, in a stock transaction in September 1998
- Whitman-Hart acquired Four Points Digital LLC, Fulcrum Solutions Ltd., and BALR Corp in 1999.
- USWeb/CKS and Whittman-Hart merged in March 2000 to form marchFIRST, Inc.
- John Guynn, a copywriter at Mckinney & Silver, thought of the name marchFIRST.
- Bernard resigned in March, and marchFIRST went bankrupt in April 2001
- Two companies (Avenue A and Divine) acquired several offices in April 2001
- Whittman-Hart re-emerged as a separate company under Bernard
- USWeb is currently an Internet services firm copying the name of the original USWeb
- Divine purchased several companies that struggled after the dot com bust, including some remnants of marchFIRST
- Divine went bankrupt in Feb 2003 (in April 2003, Divine’s assets were sold at auction)
- Gus Mueller received his final paycheck from marchFIRST, 6 years late in the summer of 2007.
Are we smarter today?