Forbes.com
Pets.com has new CEO Julie Wainwright to thank for today’s announcement that Amazon.com and venture capital firm Hummer Winblad have together taken a 50% stake in the online pet supply retailer, which launched in November 1998.
San Jose Mercury News
McLemore declined [to sell WebMagic’s Pets.com business]. Within days, the Pets.com founder scored a $10 million investment deal led by the VC firm Hummer Winblad…
NBC Nightly News
WebMagic CEO Greg McLemore speaks on the NBC Nightly News correctly predicting the upcoming demise of hundreds of Internet companies while Amazon.com would survive.
Business Wire
Pets.com today announced that it has completed an initial public offering of 7,500,000 shares of common stock at an offering price of $11 per share. The shares commenced trading today on Nasdaq under the symbol IPET.
Raging Bull
Pets.com hails from rather humble beginnings, when in 1994, a savvy 31-year-old entrepreneur, Greg McLemore, registered this first-tier domain name. Not until 1998 did McLemore’s Web design firm, WebMagic, launch Pets.com, incorporating content, community, and commerce. . . . Pets.com was not McLemore’s or WebMagic’s first claim to fame. His Web design firm has been moving behind the scenes for quite some time, having the presence of mind early on to snap up other high-profile domains. In fact, it was Toys.com that first spelled success for McLemore.
Business Wire
Pets.com today announced that it has put up for auction an authentic Pets.com Sock Puppet on Amazon.com Auctions. Direct from Pets.com’s recent Super Bowl commercial shoot, the genuine Sock Puppet, one of only a few originals, is available for bidding beginning today through February 3. All proceeds from the sale of the Sock Puppet will go to Pets.commitment, Pets.com’s philanthropic program.
News.com
Electronics giant Panasonic will hatch a new business incubator Thursday, the latest in a line of companies to help foster the growth of Internet and e-commerce startups.
The boom in e-commerce — and the demand for its stocks — has led to a rush to get in on the base floor of e-commerce opportunities.
New (incubator) companies join old hats such as WebMagic, which launched Pets.com.
Newsweek
The Internet is everywhere, even on TV . . . www.pets.com uses its ‘puppet spokes-dog thing’ to chat with pooches in parking lots and sing the site’s praises wherever pets play.
Reuters
The San Francisco-based Pets.com has the great advantage of being backed by online powerhouse Amazon.com. . . . ‘Pets products seems like a pretty homespun industry,’ says Pets.com chief executive Julie Wainwright. ‘When people saw the size of this market, they were blown away.’
Newsweek
Greg McLemore, a 31-year old entrepreneur from Pasadena, California, registered the Pets.com address and launched the site as an online community for pet owners.