When WebMD Health went public in 2005, it was a unit of Emdeon, the company once called Healtheon/WebMD, and the offering sold only a minority stake. By then its site was where Americans went to look up their symptoms. It explained conditions, drugs and treatments in plain language. Its sister site, Medscape, served doctors. Drug makers and health companies paid to advertise to both audiences.

What Survived the Dot-Com Dream

WebMD came out of the dot-com era. Jeff Arnold founded it in 1998, and it soon merged with Jim Clark's Healtheon. The early dream was to wire the whole health care system. What lasted was simpler: a trusted source of health information for consumers, paid for by advertising and sponsorships. The consumer site and Medscape together gave it reach to both patients and doctors.

The Internet Brands Deal

WebMD Health priced its IPO at $17.50 a share in September 2005 on the Nasdaq. It later became fully independent of its parent and stayed the top health site for years. In 2017 Internet Brands, another company in this directory and by then owned by KKR, bought WebMD for about $2.8 billion. The site remains one of the most visited health information sources in the United States.

Cover: Ephraim Bonus, Jewish Physician, Rembrandt van Rijn. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a physician (medical advice).