Verio
| Industry | Web hosting |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1996 |
| Headquarters | 8005 S Chester St. Suite 200 Centennial, CO 80112 |
|
Key people
|
Hideyuki Yamasawa, President and Chief Executive Officer |
| Parent | Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) Communications |
| Website | http://www.verio.com |
Verio is a global web hosting provider headquartered in the United States. Incorporated in 1996 in Denver, Colorado, it is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) Communications, which acquired the company in 2000. Verio was formed from a consolidation of over 200 smaller Internet service providers (ISPs) and web hosting services.
Verio was founded by Justin Jaschke, with several of his senior management team from OneComm, as well as Darin Brannan and Venture Capitalist Mr. Steven C. Halstedt, in 1996 with a mission of becoming the largest ISP/Hosting company for the SMB/Mid Market business segment through a national infrastructure supported by local technical sales and servicing capabilities from acquired ISP/Hosting companies. Originally named World Net Access, Verio raised substantial funds ($1.1B) with which to purchase ISPs around the United States and Europe. It was funded by the principal founders, private investors, NTT, and institutional investors in a private placement. The concept was to roll up small ISPs into one large national ISP and achieve economies of scale.
On March 9, 1998 Verio's President Mark D. Johnson suffered a heart attack and died while on a business trip.
By the year 2000, Verio had purchased almost fifty small ISPs, most in the U.S. but some in Europe. During this time Verio went public on the NASDAQ, trading under the symbol VRIO. In early 2000 Verio was sold to NTT at a per-share price of $73, a total cost slightly exceeding $5 billion. Because NTT was a 53% Japanese government-owned company, foreigners were not allowed to own NTT stock, according to Japanese law at the time, and therefore the buy-out was a 100% cash deal. The United States Congress held hearings over the transaction to ensure it did not violate national security concerns. The Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation expressed concern that the Japanese government, which owned 53 percent of NTT at the time, could gain access to classified information should the U.S. government use Verio's network to tap Internet communications during an investigation. To placate these concerns, NTT agreed to form a separate division within the company staffed only by U.S. citizens to handle any work in support of government investigations. As a result, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States recommended that President Clinton allow the $5.5 billion purchase to proceed. The deal also prompted scrutiny of Japan's openness to foreign telecom competitors.
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