NBCi sold new stock at $81.375 a share in February 2000, three months after it was born. The company was a merger of web properties: the Snap.com portal, the Xoom.com community site, and NBC's own sites, including NBC.com and VideoSeeker. NBC added its TV network and its brand. In December 1999 the combined sites ranked in the top ten on the web, with 14.9 million unique visitors. Investors paid a high price for a TV network with a portal attached.

Snap, Xoom and a Peacock

NBC Internet launched in November 1999 as a separate public company based in San Francisco. It folded together Xoom.com, founded in April 1996, the Snap.com portal, launched in September 1997, and the internet businesses NBC contributed, from NBC.com to NBC-IN.com. The plan was to mix portal search, online communities and e-commerce with NBC's shows and on-air promotion. None of the pieces had reached positive yearly operating cash flow, and the company expected losses ahead.

From $81 to $2.19

The February 2000 offering sold 4.6 million shares at $81.375, worth about $374 million, split between the company and some selling holders. NBCi already traded on Nasdaq as NBCI, so this was a follow-on sale. Within weeks the dot-com crash began, and ad-supported portals lost their buyers. In 2001 NBC offered $2.19 in cash for each Class A share it did not own. Shareholders approved, NBCi left the market that August, and the company was liquidated into NBC.

Cover: Peacock, Thomas Bewick. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a peacock (the NBC logo).