L90 went public at the peak of the dot-com boom, and two years later it had to restate its financial results. The Santa Monica company sold online ads for web publishers, mostly banners priced per thousand views. It also charged advertisers for adMonitor, its tool for tracking campaigns. In the first nine months of 1999, ad sales made up 93.6 percent of its revenue. When L90 filed to go public that year, it was betting that every website would need someone to sell its ad space.

Latitude 90

John Bohan and Mark Roah co-founded the company in January 1997. Both had worked at Screaming Media. The company took the name Latitude 90 in December 1998 and became L90 in September 1999. It earned commissions for selling ad space on publishers' sites. It also sold direct marketing programs priced per action, such as each new user registration. Bohan served as chief executive from the start.

From L90 to MaxWorldwide

L90 priced its IPO at $15 a share in January 2000 and listed on Nasdaq. The online ad market crashed soon after. An internal investigation led L90 to restate its results for 2000 and most of 2001. In 2002 it reorganized as MaxWorldwide and took over DoubleClick's media business in exchange for stock. In February 2003 it sold its MaxDirect division, and it planned to liquidate and dissolve the company.

Cover: The Poster Man, plate 17 from Bohémiens de Paris, Honoré-Victorin Daumier. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a man pasting posters (selling ad space).