MyPoints paid people to open their email. Members agreed to get marketing messages, and each one they read, along with each purchase they made through the site, earned points toward rewards such as gift certificates. Advertisers paid MyPoints for the attention. In August 1999 email was the internet's busiest room, and marketers were desperate for a way to stand out. MyPoints went public promising them readers who had asked for their offers.

Intellipost's Reward Program

MyPoints was founded in November 1996 as Intellipost Corporation in San Francisco. In May 1997 it launched its email direct marketing and rewards program. Members signed up and listed their interests. Marketers sent offers through MyPoints, which targeted them by those interests and tracked what each member read or bought. Members then traded their points for rewards from partner merchants. Every offer went only to people who had signed up to receive it.

From $8 to United Airlines

MyPoints priced its IPO at $8 a share in August 1999 and sold more stock in February 2000. Then the online ad market collapsed, and its stock fell with it. In June 2001 a subsidiary of UAL, the parent of United Airlines, launched a tender offer for MyPoints at $2.60 a share in cash. MyPoints deregistered its shares in July 2001.

Cover: Lottery Game, José Guadalupe Posada. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a lottery game (chance and rewards).