Sprint handed EarthLink 130,000 of its own internet customers in 1998, along with cash and credit, in return for about 30 percent of the company. EarthLink was a four-year-old internet service provider from Pasadena, selling dial-up access to homes and small businesses. It had gone public in January 1997 at $13 a share. This filing came in May 1998, as the Sprint deal closed, for a new sale of shares at an assumed price of $58.50.

Busy Signals and Setup Disks

Sky Dayton founded EarthLink in 1994, when getting online meant modems, phone numbers and setup disks. His bet was that a provider could win by making the internet simple and by keeping its members happy, at a time when rivals were known for busy signals and slow help lines. EarthLink grew through direct mail and partner deals. By April 1998 it had passed 500,000 members, and the Sprint alliance promised at least 150,000 new members a year.

Sprint, MindSpring, Windstream

EarthLink first sold shares at $13 in January 1997 and listed on Nasdaq as ELNK. The 1998 offering in this filing followed the Sprint deal. In 2000 EarthLink merged with MindSpring and moved its headquarters to Atlanta. As broadband replaced dial-up, the company shifted toward selling network services to businesses. In 2017 the telecom company Windstream bought EarthLink in an all-stock deal.

Cover: Map of the World, John Paul Cimerlin. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a heart-shaped map of the world (a link to the whole earth).