Jupiter Communications made its living telling companies how big the internet economy would get. The New York firm sold subscriptions to its research, forecasts and analysts, and ran conferences where executives came to hear them. It had 145 subscription contracts at the end of 1997 and 654 by June 1999. That October, at the peak of the boom it studied, Jupiter went public.

Research for the New Economy

Jupiter was formed in New York on December 1, 1994. Gene DeRose was chief executive, and Kurt Abrahamson was president. Its main product was Strategic Planning Services, a subscription that bundled written analysis, data and access to analysts. Revenue grew from $8.5 million in 1997 to $14.8 million in 1998. The bet was that every company going online would pay for a guide to a market that changed every quarter.

Twenty-One Dollars and a Merger

Jupiter priced at $21 a share in October 1999 and listed on Nasdaq as JPTR. In 2000 it merged with Media Metrix, the web audience measurement firm, to form Jupiter Media Metrix. The dot-com bust then wiped out many of the young internet companies that bought its research. In 2002 Jupiter Media Metrix sold off its pieces, with Media Metrix going to comScore, and wound down.

Cover: View of the Temple of Jupiter Tonans [Jupiter the Thunderer], from Views of Rome, Giovanni Battista Piranesi. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for the Temple of Jupiter (Jupiter).