Bomis

Bomis, Inc.

Bomis founders in 2006
Type of business	Private company
Type of site	Internet portal Advertising space
Available in	English
Founded	1996
Headquarters	St. Petersburg, Florida, United States
Founder(s)	Jimmy Wales Michael Davis
CEO
Industry	Dot-com
Products	Bomis Premium Bomis Babes Bomis Babe Report The Babe Engine Bomis Browser
Employees	10
Subsidiaries	Nupedia (2000–2003) (2001–2003)
Website	bomis.com, archived at the Internet Archive
Advertising	Yes
Registration	No
Launched	1996
Current status	Inactive as of 2007

Bomis (/ˈbɒmᵻs/ to rhyme with "promise") was a dot-com company best known for supporting the creations of free-content online-encyclopedia projects Nupedia and . It was founded in 1996 by Jimmy Wales, and Michael Davis. Davis became acquainted with Wales after hiring him at Chicago Options Associates in 1994, and Wales became friends with Shell through mailing lists discussing philosophy. The primary business of Bomis was the sale of advertising on the Bomis.com search portal.

The company initially tried a number of ideas for content, including being a directory of information about Chicago. The site subsequently focused on content geared to a male audience, including information on sporting activities, automobiles and women. Bomis became successful after focusing on X-rated media. "Bomis Babes" was devoted to erotic images; the "Bomis Babe Report" featured adult pictures. Bomis Premium, available for an additional fee, provided explicit material. "The Babe Engine" helped users find erotic content through a web search engine. The advertising director for Bomis noted that 99 percent of queries on the site were for nude women.

Jimmy Wales left a study track at Indiana University as a PhD candidate to work in finance before completing his doctoral dissertation. In 1994 Wales was hired by Michael Davis, CEO of finance company Chicago Options Associates, as a trader focusing on futures contracts and options. Wales was adept at determining future movements of foreign currencies and interest rates; he was successful in Chicago, became independently wealthy, and was director of research at Chicago Options Associates from 1994 to 2000. He became acquainted with Tim Shell from email lists discussing philosophy.