Pets.com
 |
|
| Fate | Self-liquidated |
|---|---|
| Founded | August 1998 |
| Defunct | November 2000 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, U.S. |
|
Number of employees
|
320 |
| Website | www.Pets.com at the Wayback Machine (archived March 1, 2000) |
Pets.com was a dot-com enterprise that sold pet supplies to retail customers. It began operations in August 1998 and closed in November 2000. A high-profile marketing campaign gave it a widely recognized public presence, including an appearance in the 1999 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and an advertisement in the 2000 Super Bowl. Its popular sock puppet advertising mascot was interviewed by People magazine and appeared on Good Morning America.
Although sales rose dramatically due to the attention, the company was weak on fundamentals and lost money on most of its sales. Its high public profile during its brief existence made it one of the more noteworthy failures of the dot-com bubble of the early 2000s. US$300 million of investment capital vanished with the company's failure. The company was headquartered in San Francisco.
Pets.com was a short-lived online business that sold pet accessories and supplies direct to consumers over the World Wide Web. It launched in August 1998 and went from an IPO on a major stock exchange (the Nasdaq) to liquidation in 268 days. Other similar business-to-consumer companies from the same period include Webvan (groceries) and Boo.com (branded fashion apparel).
After its start by Greg McLemore, the site and domain was purchased in early 1999 by leading venture capital firm Hummer Winblad and executive Julie Wainwright. Amazon.com was involved in pets.com's first round of venture funding, purchasing a majority 54% stake in the company. The CEO of Pets.com said of Amazon's investment, "This is a marriage made in heaven". Pets.com bought out one online competitor, Petstore.com, in summer 2000.
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