USinternetworking, Inc. (USi) was an

application service provider An application service provider (ASP) is a business providing application software generally through the Web. The ASP model The application software resides on the vendor's system and is accessed by users through a communication protocol. Altern ...

. It offered outsourced business applications delivered over the Internet or a private network connection for an installation charge and a flat monthly fee. In October 2006, it was acquired by

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

History

The company was founded in January 1998 by Christopher R. McCleary, Chris Poelma and Stephen McManus Early investors included Grotech and

US West US West, Inc. (stylized as US WEST) was one of seven Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs, also referred to as "Baby Bells"), created in 1983 under the Modification of Final Judgement (''United States v. Western Electric Co., Inc.'' 552 ...

. In February 1998, the company pursued a merger with

PSINet PSINet, based in Northern Virginia, was one of the first commercial Internet service providers (ISPs) and was involved in the commercialization of the Internet until the company's bankruptcy in 2001 during the dot-com bubble and acquisition by Coge ...

but was rejected. In May 1998, the company signed a lease for its 24,000 square foot office. On April 9, 1999, 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 ...

, the company became a

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange (l ...

via an

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 ...

. Shares rose 174% on the first day of trading, ending the day at $57.50 per share. On April 26, 1999, the company was named the first certified

Broadvision BroadVision is an international software vendor of self-service web applications for enterprise social software, electronic commerce, enterprise portals, and customer relationship management. The company provides applications to businesses. In ...

application service provider. In November 1999, the company announced an agreement to develop

Microsoft Office 2000 Microsoft Office 2000 (version 9.0) is a release of Microsoft Office, an office suite developed and distributed by Microsoft for the Windows family of operating systems. Office 2000 was released to manufacturing on March 29, 1999, and was made av ...

as an online service. In July 2000, founder Christopher R. McCleary resigned as

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 was replaced with Andrew Stern. In August 2000, the company acquired EnableVision. By July 2001, after the bursting of the dot-com bubble, shares were trading for $1 each. In January 2002, 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 ...

. It emerged in May 2002 with financing from

Bain Capital Bain Capital is an American private investment firm based in Boston. It specializes in private equity, venture capital, credit, public equity, impact investing, life sciences, and real estate. Bain Capital invests across a range of industry se ...

and a merger with Interpath. In September 2003, Stephen A. Mucchetti was named

chief operating officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the "C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if t ...

of the company. In June 2004, the company acquired Appshop for between $40 million and $50 million. In October 2006,

acquired the company for $300 million.

References

{{Dot-com Bubble 1998 establishments in Maryland 1999 initial public offerings Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2002 2006 mergers and acquisitions AT&T Dot-com bubble Defunct software companies of the United States Bain Capital companies