Click Commerce went public at the peak of the business-to-business internet craze, watched its shares collapse, and then rebuilt itself into a profitable company. The Chicago firm built web software that linked manufacturers with their dealers and distributors for ordering, pricing and support. Many manufacturers sell through such partners, and coordinating that network is hard. Click Commerce listed in June 2000, one of several Chicago tech firms to go public in that period.

One Place for Every Dealer

Click Commerce bet that manufacturers would move their partner relationships onto the web. Its software gave dealers a single place to check prices, place orders and get information. Its customers included large manufacturers of equipment and vehicles, and its software ran large parts of their dealer networks. After the dot-com crash, the company bought other software businesses, including tools for research institutions and health care.

Home in Chicago

Click Commerce priced its IPO at $10 a share in June 2000 and listed on Nasdaq as CKCM. The shares collapsed after the bubble burst. The company rebuilt itself through acquisitions and a tight focus on profits, and it became steadily profitable. In 2006 Illinois Tool Works, another Chicago-area company, bought Click Commerce. ITW got a profitable software business, and Click Commerce shareholders did better than most of their peers from the class of 2000.

Cover: Chicago River from Rush Street Bridge, No. 188 from the series "Views of Chicago", John Carbutt. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for the Chicago River.