Cnet Networks Inc - Founded In 1992 By Halsey Minor

FOUNDED IN BY HALSEY MINOR (1992 )

CNET Inc. was founded in San Francisco in 1992 by Halsey Minor, 27, who led the company as its chairman and CEO until 2000. In March 2000 CNET's vice chairman Shelby Bonnie succeeded Minor as CEO, with Minor remaining as chairman. In 2001 Bonnie became chairman and CEO, with Minor becoming chairman emeritus. As a managing director of venture capital firm Tiger Management in 1992, Bonnie was the first major investor in CNET. In 1993 he became the company's third employee and was its chief financial officer and chief operating officer. Prior to founding CNET, Minor was an investment banker and publisher.

By 1994 the company was attempting to launch a new cable network, C\NET: The Computer Network. It planned to start with a single show called "C\NET Central" that would run for several hours over a weekend. The start-up cable network received a significant investment from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in 1994, and in 1995 USA Networks became a minority investor. At the time a competing computer channel, Jones Computer Network, reached 1.5 million homes, and Microsoft was planning to launch the PC Channel in association with cable operator Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI). USA Networks agreed to show C\NET programming on its USA and Sci-Fi cable channels.

The president of C\NET Networks was Kevin Wendle, who was an original member of the Fox Broadcasting team and an Emmy Award-winning producer. In 1995 the network was developing two shows in addition to "C\NET Central." One was to be called "The Web" and focus on the Internet, while the other would consist of multimedia software and product reviews. The company also began developing a Web site that would be a leading source of information about computer technology and digital media. By mid-1995 C\NET Online had more than 43,000 registered users. Its lead advertisers were Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and MCI. The demand for online advertising was such that CNET created a separate department to provide data to potential advertisers. Within four months the number of employees working on the Web site increased from six to more than 85.

In 1996 CNET and E!Entertainment Television formed a joint venture called E!Online, which began as a Web site providing entertainment news. However, the venture was short-lived. In 1997 E!Entertainment Television bought out CNET's 50-percent interest in E!Online for $10 million.

The national exposure that resulted from the weekly airing of "C\NET Central" on the USA and Sci-Fi channels helped toboost traffic at CNET's Web sites. The company's flagship Web site was CNET Online (www.cnet.com), which was getting 9 million hits a day in mid-1996. It offered technology news, game reviews, technical support, bulletin boards, and product reviews, as well as an online radio component that delivered audio. Visitors to CNET Online also could view C\NET Central's studio. In addition to CNET Online, the company also operated Share-ware.com, an archive of more than 170,000 free software titles, and Search.com, a Web site that gathered search engine programs that indexed Web sites.