In its first three years, iXL bought 34 companies. The Atlanta firm stitched together small web design shops, programmers, and consultants into one national agency for the Fortune 1000. Big companies in 1999 knew they needed a web strategy and had no one in-house to build it. iXL sold them both the plan and the code. When it went public in June 1999, web consultancies were among the hottest stocks on Nasdaq, and iXL was one of the largest.

A Roll-Up of Web Builders

Bert Ellis, an Atlanta media executive, founded iXL in March 1996 and made its first acquisitions two months later. The plan was speed through buying. Each new shop brought designers, engineers, and clients in another city. iXL then offered the whole set of services: strategy, design, and the systems behind a site. Its customers were large companies that wanted to be on the web fast.

Twelve Dollars Into the Bust

iXL sold shares at $12 on June 3, 1999, on Nasdaq under the ticker IIXL. The stock climbed through the rest of the bubble. When the dot-com crash came in 2000, clients cut their web budgets, and iXL laid off staff and lost heavily. In November 2001 it merged with Scient, a San Francisco rival, to form Scient Inc. The combined company filed for bankruptcy in July 2002.

Cover: Kneeling Mason, Charles Nègre. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a kneeling mason (builders of the web).