LookSmart

LookSmart is an American search advertising, content management,<ref name="enterprise" /> online media, and technology company. It provides search, machine learning and chatbot technologies<ref name=":3" /> as well as pay-per-click and contextual advertising services.

LookSmart also licenses and manages search ad networks as white-label products. It abides by the click measurement guidelines of the Interactive Advertising Bureau.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

LookSmart also owns several subsidiaries, including Clickable Inc., LookSmart AdCenter, Novatech.io, ShopWiki<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Syncapse.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The current CEO of LookSmart is Michael Onghai<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and the company is headquartered in Henderson, Nevada.<ref name=":6">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Etymology

The name "LookSmart" is a double entendre, referring to both its selective, editorially compiled directory and as a compliment to users whom the company thinks "look smart".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

History

1995–1998

LookSmart was founded as Homebase in 1995 in Melbourne, Australia by husband and wife Evan Thornley and Tracy Ellery, executives of McKinsey & Company.<ref name=enterprise>Template:Cite book</ref> Reader's Digest invested $5 million in the company for an 80% stake.<ref name="enterprise" /> The original concept of Homebase was to build a female and family-friendly web portal to supplement the Reader's Digest magazine.<ref name="enterprise" /> After leadership and strategy changes at Reader's Digest, which reduced RD's focus on its online business, RD wanted to shut down Homebase, which would have cost $4 million in payouts and other termination costs.<ref name="enterprise" /> The founders and former McKinsey's employee Martin Hosking instead proposed a cheaper leveraged buyout of Homebase.<ref name="enterprise" />

On 28 October 1996, the company launched its LookSmart search engine.<ref name=":2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> At launch, the search engine listed more than 85,000 sites and had a "Java-enhanced" interface.<ref name=":2" /> In June 1997, the search engine underwent a major redesign, dropping its original Java-based browsing system.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

LookSmart was sold back to the founders as well as Martin Hosking through a leveraged buyout in 1998, with Reader's Digest providing a $1.5 million loan and retaining about a 10% equity stake.<ref name="enterprise" /><ref name=":12">Template:Cite news</ref> Also in 1998, a search box was added to the LookSmart search engine along with People Search, Yellow pages, Discussions and shopping search.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In May 1998, the company raised $2.3 million from Amwin and $6.0 million from Cox Media Group and Macquarie Bank and was valued at $23.3 million.<ref name="enterprise" /> On 21 December 1998, LookSmart stopped accepting pornographic advertisements.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

1999–2001

By 1999, the company had 500 employees and LookSmart was the twelfth most visited website worldwide with 10 million users, behind AltaVista and ahead of Snap.<ref name="enterprise" /> In early-1999, the company reached an agreement to provide directory and listing services for Microsoft for 5 years. The deal provided the company with $30 million upfront and guaranteed payments of $5 million per year.<ref name="enterprise" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In late-March 1999, the company raised $59.6 million based on a post-money valuation of $430 million from Amerindo Investment Advisors, Citicorp Equity Capital, Cox Interactive Media, Hambrecht & Quist and others.<ref name="enterprise" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In May 1999, LookSmart formed a strategic partnership with direct-response marketing company Guthy-Renker and acquired some of their assets from their e-commerce division for $3 million.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":4">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On 20 August 1999, during the dot-com bubble, the company became a public company via an initial public offering on the NASDAQ, debuting at $12 per share and raising $92.4 million based on a $1 billion valuation for the company.<ref name="enterprise" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> LookSmart used the money it made from its IPO to open offices in Denmark, Canada and the Netherlands.<ref name=":10" /> By October 1999, the stock price reached $30 per share, giving the company a market capitalization of $2.5 billion.<ref name=":10">Template:Cite news</ref> The founders' 15% stake was worth $375 million.<ref name="smart">Template:Cite news</ref> On 10 November 1999, LookSmart and BT Group founded joint venture BT LookSmart.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In December 1999, LookSmart purchased FutureCorp and its free email service Start for more than $5 million from its co-founders Michael Mak and Bardia Housman.<ref name=":14">Template:Cite news</ref> Also in December, LookSmart acquired 14.5% of the voting stock of Dstore Pty Ltd. for $300,000.<ref name=":15">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2000, FindArticles, a website which provided access to articles previously published in magazines, journals, and other sources, was founded<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="ResourceShelf">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="BtoB2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> as a partnership between LookSmart, which authored the search technology, and the Gale Group, which provided the articles for a fee.<ref name="AAI">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In March 2000, LookSmart's stock price briefly peaked at $72 per share.<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":11">Template:Cite news</ref> On 28 March 2000, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) signed a sponsorship deal with LookSmart by adding a custom-built LookSmart directory to the Olympic Games' website.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On 30 May 2000, Juno Online Services reached an agreement with LookSmart to provide Juno's subscribers access to LookSmart's directory and LookSmart's stock jumped 8%.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On 26 July 2000, AltaVista reached an agreement with LookSmart for it to be their exclusive directory provider.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In October 2000, the company acquired Zeal for $20 million.<ref name="wise">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="200710K" />

As a result of the dot-com bubble bursting in late 2000, the company fired 172 employees or 31% of its staff in January 2001 to cut costs.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Also in January, LookSmart shut down Inside The Web and LookSmart Live! due to them being unrelated to their core business model.<ref name=":4" /> On 17 January 2001, the company reached a deal to provide product categories from its directory to Amazon.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Also after the dot-com bubble burst, LookSmart paid $90,000 to transfer 52.8% of its ownership of FutureCorp back to its founders.<ref name=":14" /><ref name=":15" />

2002–2003

On 12 March 2002, LookSmart announced that they would be acquiring WiseNut for about $9.25 million in stock.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> LookSmart completed their acquisition of WiseNut in April.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In June 2002, Thornley resigned as CEO but stayed on as chairman<ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref> and three of the seven members of the board of directors resigned in response, including Robert Ryan, Myriann Byerwalter and James Tananbaum.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In July 2002, BT LookSmart acquired UK Plus from Associated New Media (ANM) for an undisclosed amount.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On 1 October 2002, Jason Kellerman became the CEO of LookSmart, having previously served as COO of the company.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In early-December 2002, LookSmart paid US$3.5 million in cash and 1 million in LookSmart shares to purchase BT LookSmart from BT Group and subsequently shut down the joint venture.<ref name=":9">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> LookSmart also returned US$1.5 million in restricted cash that was to be used for the funding of the joint venture.<ref name=":9" />

In January 2003, LookSmart acquired Intellectual property rights from Grub for $1.3 million in cash and stock.<ref>LookSmart SEC filing, 2003</ref> On 6 March 2003, LookSmart announced that they had renewed an agreement with Time Warner Cable's Road Runner division to continue providing directory listings for Road Runner subscribers.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On 9 July 2003, LookSmart announced that they had reached an agreement to provide listing services in the United States for web portal Terra Lycos.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In August 2003, LookSmart stated in a financial report that Microsoft, which accounted for 64% of the company's listing revenues in the last 6 months and 70% of the company's overall revenue, started testing its own search technology without LookSmart's listings on some of its websites in the United Kingdom and LookSmart's stock dropped more than 20% on 15 August and continued dropping on 18 August.<ref name=":5" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Also in August, William Lonergan became the new CFO of LookSmart.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In October 2003, LookSmart reintroduced its bid-for-placement ads in order to compete with Google and Yahoo!, which were previously offered through LookSmart's UK division.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On 6 October 2003, Microsoft announced that it would not renew its agreement with LookSmart and the company's stock price plunged 52.3% in a day and its stock fell to $1.44 per share.<ref name=":5">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":7">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In response to this, LookSmart fired half of its employees in December 2003.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In September 2003, the company settled a lawsuit filed in May 2002 by Legal Staffing Partners after the company converted thousands of websites that originally had paid a onetime submission fee into a cost-per-click payment model.<ref name="enterprise" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2003, LookSmart had a net income of $5.8 million and made $140.9 million in revenue.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

2004–2009

In January 2004, LookSmart sold its Australian operations to Telstra's online division Sensis and most of LookSmart's 30 employees in Australia started working for Sensis.<ref name="smart" /> Also in January, Jason Kellerman resigned as CEO of LookSmart and was temporarily replaced as CEO by Damian Smith.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Starting on 15 January 2004, LookSmart's directory listings were no longer shown on MSN Search.<ref name=":7" /> In April 2004, LookSmart acquired Net Nanny from BioNet Systems, LLC for $5.3 million in stock and cash.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On 1 July 2004, Teresa Dial replaced Thornley as chairman of the company.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2005, LookSmart was forced to consolidate its shares after facing suspension from the NASDAQ.<ref name=":11" /> On 15 March 2005, LookSmart had a market cap of $96.21 million and its stock price was at $0.85 per share.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In May 2005, LookSmart started providing Ask.com with its sponsored listings.<ref name=":8" /> On 28 March 2006, LookSmart closed the Zeal directory.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In January 2007, ContentWatch Inc. acquired Net Nanny from LookSmart.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> John Simonelli, the CFO and COO of LookSmart, resigned in June 2007.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On 17 July 2007, the company sold Grub to Wikia<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> for $50,000.<ref name=200710K>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On 1 August 2007, David Hills resigned as CEO of LookSmart and Edward West was appointed CEO the same day.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Also in August, LookSmart's management made the decision to exit consumer products and sell or dispose of their websites and assets associating with their consumer properties revenue stream.<ref name="200710K" /> Further developments in 2007 included Michael Grubb resigning as CTO of LookSmart on 7 September 2007,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> LookSmart closing WiseNut in late-September,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> the company delisting from the Australian Securities Exchange on 1 October,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> the company selling Zeal on 15 October for $50,000,<ref name="200710K" /> the company selling FindArticles to CNET Networks on 9 November for $20.5 million,<ref name="200710K" /><ref name="Wired">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="VentureBeat">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and William Bush being appointed CFO of LookSmart on 20 December.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On 14 January 2009, LookSmart had a market cap of US$28 million and its stock price was at $0.14 per share.<ref name=":11" /> In March 2009, the company sold Furl to Diigo.<ref name="furl">Template:Cite news</ref> In May 2009, Ask.com, which accounted for 89% of LookSmart's company publisher solutions revenue in the first quarter of 2009, announced that it would not renew its contract with LookSmart for sponsored listings.<ref name=":8" /> In December 2009, Jean-Yves Dexmier became the CEO of LookSmart.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On 31 December 2009, Ask.com ended its contract with LookSmart for sponsored listings.<ref name=":8">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

2013–present

In February 2013, Michael Onghai became the CEO of LookSmart.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On 2 September 2013, LookSmart's Canadian subsidiary, LookSmart Canada Ltd., acquired assets of Syncapse Corp. upon court approval for $3 million.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On 22 September 2014, LookSmart announced the launch of its Information Technology services offering Novatech.io.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On 16 July 2015, the company had a market cap of around $3.6 million and its stock price was at $0.63 per share.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In October 2015, the company transferred all of its assets to its subsidiary, LookSmart Group Inc. and spun off the ownership of LookSmart Group to its shareholders.<ref name=":0" /> LookSmart, Ltd., the company's former entity, completed a merger with Maritime Technologies Corp., a subsidiary of Pyxis Tankers Inc., on 28 October.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite press release</ref>

On 24 March 2017, LookSmart Group completed a merger with its subsidiary, LookSmart Capital Inc. and LookSmart Group announced that it would de-register its common stock and suspend its public reporting obligations.<ref name=":13">Template:Cite press release</ref> The company changed its trading symbol to LKSTD for 20 business days and changed its trading symbol back to LKST afterwards.<ref name=":13" />

On 3 April 2017, LookSmart Group announced the launch of its new data center building located in Central Phoenix, Arizona as a technology center, Silicon Canyon.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On 13 April 2017, LookSmart Group announced partnerships with the Clickable Institute of Technology, Entrepreneurship and Digital marketing and Richie Bello West to help veterans, minorities and immigrants at Silicon Canyon.<ref name=":3">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

References

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