360networks, Inc. was a Canadian-based wholesale telecommunications carrier. The company developed many long-haul fiber optic communications network routes throughout North America, many along railroad rights of way, consisting of both
dark fiber
A dark fibre or unlit fibre is an unused optical fibre, available for use in fibre-optic communication. Dark fibre may be leased from a network service provider.
Dark fibre originally referred to the potential network capacity of telecommunic ...
and lit fiber. These long-haul routes included Chicago to New Orleans, Chicago to Denver, Chicago to Detroit, Chicago to New York, Seattle to Los Angeles, and Denver to San Francisco. In 2011, the company was acquired by
Zayo Group
Zayo Group Holdings, Inc., or Zayo Group, is a privately held company headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, U.S. with European headquarters in London, England. The company provides communications infrastructure services, including fiber and band ...
.
History
The company was founded as Pacific Fiber Link, L.L.C. on February 5, 1998 as a subsidiary of Ledcor Industries of Canada, a member of the
Ledcor Group of Companies
Ledcor Group of Companies is an employee-owned, diversified, and vertically-integrated construction company operating primarily in Canada and United States. Ledcor operates in a wide range of industries including the construction of buildings and ...
, owned by the Lede family. It commenced business operations on May 31, 1998.
As the fiber optic telecommunications industry boomed, one of the greatest impediments to rapid growth for the telecoms was the acquisition of the rights of way within which to lay the fiber optic cables. The Ledes came up with a solution to this problem and negotiated a deal with the
Canadian National Railway
The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States.
CN i ...
to install the cable in the railroad's rights of way alongside the tracks. The company made significant contributions to the linear construction industry by inventing and patenting the Railplow, that is mounted on a flatbed railcar and used to rapidly excavate a trench alongside railroad tracks, install conduits used for housing fiber optic cables, then backfilling the trench and completing the construction and installation process within a very short span of time. This technology enabled 360networks to rapidly lay out a North American fiber optic network throughout Canada and the United States along and within numerous railroad rights of way. The patent for the Railplow was transferred to a subsidiary of the two companies and 360networks received a royalty-free, exclusive license for the use of the Railplow, giving it a significant advantage over some of its competitors that also utilized rail corridors.
Initially, the company focused on building a fiber optic route from Seattle to Sacramento. In 1999, it changed its name to Worldwide Fiber Networks, Inc. and its focus toward a global network.
In 2000, the company changed its name to 360networks Inc., and its United States entity to 360networks (USA)inc., to better describe its 360-degree focus on a global network. It hired
Greg Maffei
Greg Maffei (born May 24, 1960) is an American businessman. He is the president and chief executive officer of Liberty Media and the chairman of Live Nation Entertainment, Sirius XM and TripAdvisor. He is the chairman emeritus of Starz and E ...
, the former
chief financial officer
The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and financ ...
of
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
, as its new
chief executive officer
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
of the company
and received private equity investments from
Michael Dell
Michael Saul Dell (born February 23, 1965) is an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He is the founder, chairman, and CEO of Dell Technologies, one of the world's largest technology infrastructure companies. He is ranked the 2 ...
,
Nathan Myhrvold
Nathan Paul Myhrvold (born August 3, 1959), formerly Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft, is co-founder of Intellectual Ventures and the principal author of ''Modernist Cuisine'' and its successor books. Myhrvold was listed as co-inventor o ...
,
Liberty Media
Liberty Media Corporation (commonly referred to as Liberty Media or just Liberty) is an American mass media company controlled by chairman John C. Malone. The company has three divisions, reflecting the company's ownership stakes in Formula One ...
, and
News Corp. During the
dot-com bubble
The dot-com bubble (dot-com boom, tech bubble, or the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet.
Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Compo ...
, on January 2, 2000, the company undertook its
initial public offering
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...
, raising C$2.4 billion (US$1.45 billion) and giving the company a
market capitalization
Market capitalization, sometimes referred to as market cap, is the total value of a publicly traded company's outstanding common shares owned by stockholders.
Market capitalization is equal to the market price per common share multiplied by t ...
of C$20.6 billion. and its stock was traded on the NASDAQ in the United States under the ticker TSIX, and on the Toronto Stock Exchange in Canada under the ticker, TSX.
In May 2000, the company acquired 1 million square feet of space to house computer networking equipment in Los Angeles, Atlanta and Dallas for $144 million in cash and stock.
In August 2000, the company acquired 11,000 miles of fiber optic infrastructure from
Call-Net Enterprises Incorporated
Rogers Telecom Inc. is a subsidiary of Rogers Communications. It is a Canadian company based in Toronto that focuses on integrated communications as a provider of data, e-business and voice services to business and households. It used to be known ...
for $162.5 million.
In November 2000, the company had a market capitalization of $13 billion, despite only $234 million in revenue for the first six months of 2000.
[
In May 2001, the company received a license to own infrastructure in Japan.
In early June 2001, the company skipped a debt payment.
On June 28, 2001, the company filed ]bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...
in Canada and the United States.
In October 2002, WL Ross & Co
WL Ross & Co is a private equity company founded and based in New York by Wilbur Ross in April 2000. The company focuses on investments in financially distressed companies with undervalued stocks, in the $100 to $200 million range, usually in the ...
acquired 12.5% of the company.
In November 2002, the company emerged from bankruptcy. The company also acquired Group Telecom.
In May 2003, the company acquired the U.S. communications business of Dynegy
Dynegy Inc. is an electric company based in Houston, Texas, in the United States. It owns and operates a number of power stations in the U.S., all of which are natural gas-fueled or coal-fueled. Dynegy was acquired by Vistra Corp on April 9, 2 ...
.
In November 2003, the company sold assets to Qwest
Qwest Communications International, Inc. was a United States telecommunications carrier. Qwest provided local service in 14 western and midwestern U.S. states: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dako ...
.
In January 2004, the company bought the assets of Touch America out of bankruptcy.
In May 2004, the company sold its Canadian assets to Bell Canada
Bell Canada (commonly referred to as Bell) is a Canadian telecommunications company headquartered at 1 Carrefour Alexander-Graham-Bell in the borough of Verdun in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is an ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier) in t ...
for C$275 million.
In July 2005, Greg Maffei vacated his position as CEO to work for Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation headquartered in Austin, Texas. In 2020, Oracle was the third-largest software company in the world by revenue and market capitalization. The company sells da ...
, but remained chairman.
In December 2011, the company was acquired by Zayo Group
Zayo Group Holdings, Inc., or Zayo Group, is a privately held company headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, U.S. with European headquarters in London, England. The company provides communications infrastructure services, including fiber and band ...
.
References
{{Dot-com Bubble
1998 establishments in Canada
2000 initial public offerings
Defunct telecommunications companies of Canada
Defunct telecommunications companies of the United States
Dot-com bubble