 | |
 | |
| Formerly |
|
|---|---|
| Company type | Private |
| Nasdaq: STCN | |
| Industry | Supply chain management |
| Founded | 1968; 57 years ago (1968) |
| Headquarters | Smyrna, Tennessee |
Key people | Warren G. Lichtenstein (interimCEO andexecutive chairman) |
| Revenue |  $819 million (2019) |
 -$66 million (2019) | |
| Total assets | $731 million (2019) |
| Total equity | $52 million (2019) |
Number of employees | 1,358 (2019) |
| Website | steelconnectinc |
| Footnotes / references [1] | |
Steel Connect, Inc. is an American company that providessupply chain management services to software companies.
The company was formed in 1968 as College Marketing Group by Glenn and Gail Mathews. At first, the company sold mailing lists of university faculty to textbook publishers.[2] In 1986, after a leveraged buyout, David Wetherell became CEO,[citation needed] and the company became known as CMGI, Inc.[2]
In February 1994, the company became apublic company via aninitial public offering. That same month, Wetherell foundedBookLink, in which the company invested $900,000. BookLink was sold toAmerica Online in November 1994, and the company used the proceeds of the sale to set up CMG @Ventures, aventure capital firm that invested in internet companies.[3]
The company invested $1 million for an 80% ownership interest inLycos, which was its most profitable investment. In 1997, the company invested inGeocities and it also formed Navisite.[4][5] In June 1999, the company agreed to acquire an 83% stake inAltaVista fromCompaq for $2.3 billion.[6] In September 1999, the company acquired AdForce, founded byChad Steelberg, for $500 million.[7] In November 1999, Altavista acquiredRagingBull.com after Wetherell noticed the website while on vacation.[8] During thedot-com bubble, the company, which was then known asCMGI, Inc., had amarket capitalization of $41 billion and owned the naming rights tothe new home stadium of theNew England Patriots. Between 1995 and 1999, it had the best-performing stock in the United States, returning 4,921%. After the crash of the bubble, the stock price fell 99%.
In March 2000, the company acquiredYesmail.[9] In April 2000, the company acquireduBid.[10] In May 2000, the company acquired Tallan, Inc. for $920M.[11] In August 2000, the company agreed to pay $7.6 million per year for 15 years for the naming rights of the home stadium of theNew England Patriots.[12] In August 2002, after the bursting of thedot-com bubble, the company modified the agreement and the stadium name was changed toGillette Stadium.[13] In 2000, the company recorded a $661 million gain whenYahoo! acquired its interest inGeoCities. By that time, its stock price had declined 78% from its high earlier in the year.[14] In February 2004, the company acquired Modus Media.[15] In September 2008, the company changed its name to ModusLink Global Solutions, Inc.[16] In December 2017, the company acquired IWCO Direct for $476 million in cash.[17] In February 2018, the company changed its name to Steel Connect, Inc.[18] In May 2023, Steel Holdingss acquired majority control of the company and infused $200 million of cash into the company.[19]
