Women and the Internet - Ivillage.com

With $2 million in backing from America Online (AOL), former Time Warner executive Candice Carpenter and former president and publisher for Doubleday Nancy Evans co-founded New York-based iVillage.com in June of 1995. Developed as the one of the first Internet hubs to serve as a resource for women, the site's first two networks were called About Work and Parent Soup. Carpenter headed up the firm as CEO, while Evans worked as president and editor-in-chief.

Carpenter and Evans spent the next few years expanding iVillage's content and developing e-commerce alliances with companies that sold products specifically for woman. iVillage eventually grew into the leading online destination for women and one of the largest content sites on the Web, with more than five million visitors each month. To serve its target market of women between 25 and 54 years of age, iVillage offered several different channels, including astrology, babies, beauty, books, computing, diet and fitness, food, games, health, home and garden, money, news, parenting, pets, relationships, and work. Along with reading about topics of interest, users could also interact with online experts, participate in discussion and support groups, post messages, provide links to their own Web sites, enter contests, and shop. Membership was free, as the company chose instead to make money through advertising and sponsorships agreements, as well as from commissions on the products it sold online.

In April of 1999, iVillage conducted its initial public offering (IPO). Like so many other dot.com upstarts, iVillage watched its share prices skyrocket on the first day of trading. Roughly one year later, however, shareholders began to express concern about iVillage's lack of profitability. Stock plummeted from a high of $113.75 in 1999 to roughly $1 per share. In August of 2000, Carpenter was succeeded by Doug McCormick, who immediately put in place a restructuring that included layoffs and budget cuts. The firm bought out rival Women.com Network for $27 million in 2001. When the deal was completed, Hearst Corp. became the firm's largest shareholder with a 25 percent stake. AOL Time Warner and NBC both owned roughly 5 percent.