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August 21, 2005
Top 10 dot bombs
Trying to go to the old CDNow website now takes you to Amazon.com, but CDNow started off as an IPO (CDNW) back in February 1998 at $18 per share. It shot up to $39 in a couple of months, but was already starting the death spiral less than six months later. It was delisted from NASDAQ in August 2000 and was finally put out of its misery in September 2000 when Bertlesmann bought out the common stock and took it private.
I loved CDNow. They had more types of coupons and specials than Michael Jackson has had noses. My favorite was the $10 off every $20 purchase. That was two CDs for the price of one. And they threw in free shipping!
In grad school, I would sell CDs on eBay for ridiculous prices, then buy the CDs from CDNow and send them to the auction winner. On top of that, they would rebate something like 7% of your purchases PLUS they had an affiliate program where you'd earn another 5% if you used a certain link to make purchases. I must've bought $1000 worth of CDs doing that for something like $300 or $400 and sold them all on eBay.
Ah, the fond memories of wasting time on the internet to make a few hundred bucks when I should've been writing my thesis. Anyway, CNET put together a list of the Top 10 dot com flops of all time. CDNow is not on the list.
Posted by brian at August 21, 2005 10:52 AM