EXPLOSIVE GROWTH
As the number of North American Internet users began to climb and e-commerce sales continued to grow, the stock prices of Internet-based firms began to soar. Amazon's shares, which originally listed on NASDAQ for $18 apiece, rose in value to nearly $100 in less than a year, leaving founder Bezos near billion-aire status. Yahoo's stock prices also skyrocketed in the late 1990s, and both Yang and Filo also became billionaires. In September of 1997, eBay conducted its IPO; eBay stock jumped from $18 to $50 in a matter of minutes, and within two months, share prices reached $100.
eBay's registered users reached 1.2 million by the end of 1998, and sales soared 724 percent to $47.4 million. In December of that year, more than one million new customers shopped online at Amazon for holiday gifts. Total customers exceeded 6.2 million, securing Amazon's position as the number three U.S. bookseller, behind Barnes & Noble and Borders. In addition, Yahoo! became one of the few Web-based ventures to make money via online advertising. In fact, the only one of the five major Internet pioneer firms facing difficulty was Netscape, which struggled to hang onto its browser market share in the face of stiff competition from Microsoft. In November of 1998, Netscape agreed to be purchased by American Online for roughly $4.2 billion. Stock prices soared on news of the deal, and by the buyout's completion in March of 1999, the price tag exceeded $10 billion. These success stories prompted venture capital firms to fund hordes of e-commerce startups, including business-to-consumer B2C ventures like Pets.com and X.com, as well as business-to-business (B2B) ventures like Internet consultancy Scient. At the end of 1999, despite significant e-commerce growth across both Europe and Asia, North America accounted for 67 percent of the worldwide B2B e-commerce market and 76 percent of the worldwide B2C market.
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