Commerce One
{{Short description|American e-commerce company}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Commerce One, Inc.
| logo = Commerce One logo.svg
| type = Public
| fate = Acquired
| foundation = {{start date and age|1994}}
| founder = Tom Gonzales
Thomas Gonzales Jr.
| defunct = {{end date and age|2006|02|07}}
| location = Pleasanton, California
| revenue = {{increase}} $401 million (2000)
| net_income = {{decrease}} -$344 million (2000)
| assets = {{increase}} $3.070 billion (2000)
| equity = {{increase}} $2.799 billion (2000)
| num_employees = 3,766 (2000)
| footnotes = {{cite web | url=https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1069450/000091205701506507/a2041680z10-k.txt | title=Commerce One, Inc. 2000 Form 10-K Annual Report | publisher=U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission}}
}}
Commerce One, Inc. operated online auctions focused on B2B e-commerce.{{cite news | url=https://www.cnet.com/news/commerce-one-soars-after-3-for-1-split/ | title=Commerce One soars after 3-for-1 split | work=CNET}}{{cite book|author=John Carreyrou|title=Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CcJFDwAAQBAJ|date=21 May 2018|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-5247-3166-3}} At the peak of the dot-com bubble, the company had a market capitalization of $21.5 billion.{{cite news | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2003-02-02/online-extra-from-hot-to-scorched-at-commerce-one | title=Online Extra: From Hot to Scorched at Commerce One | first=Steve | last=Hamm | work=Bloomberg BusinessWeek | date=February 3, 2003}}
The company's technologies included Schema for Object-Oriented XML (SOX), an XML schema technology that influenced the development of the W3C's XML Schema language and the Java Architecture for XML Binding (JAXB).
History
The company was founded in 1994 as DistriVision by Tom Gonzales and his son, Thomas Gonzales Jr.{{cite news | url=https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2007/07/13/charity-sues-over-legacy-of-dot-com/ | title=Charity sues over legacy of dot-com | first=JOHN | last=SIMERMAN | work=East Bay Times | date=July 13, 2007}} It was renamed Commerce One in 1997 after Mark Hoffman became CEO.
In January 1999, the company acquired Veo Systems from Asim Abdullah for $300 million.{{cite news | url=http://www.internetnews.com/ec-news/article.php/33571/Commerce+One+Buys+Veo+Systems.htm | title=Commerce One Buys Veo Systems | work=QuinStreet | date=January 19, 1999}}
In November 1999, the company acquired CommerceBid from Ramesh Balwani for $4.5 million in cash and 785,000 shares and the company partnered with General Motors to create an online marketplace.{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/06/business/company-news-commerce-one-buys-commercebid-for-stock-and-cash.html | title=COMMERCE ONE BUYS COMMERCEBID FOR STOCK AND CASH | agency=Bloomberg News | work=The New York Times | date=November 6, 1999 | url-access=subscription}}
In July 1999, on its first trading day after its initial public offering, the company's stock price rose 190%.{{cite news | url=https://money.cnn.com/1999/07/01/technology/askjeeves/ | title=IPO a smash? Ask Jeeves | work=CNN | date=July 1, 1999}}
In September 2000, the company acquired AppNet for $1.6 billion in stock.{{cite news | url=https://money.cnn.com/2000/06/20/deals/commerceone/ | title=Commerce One, AppNet tie | work=CNN | date=June 20, 2000}}
In December 2000, the company formed Covisint with Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Daimler AG, Renault, and Nissan. Ford and General Motors each received 14.4 million shares of Commerce One and Commerce One owned 2% of Covisint.
In 2001, co-founder Thomas Gonzales Jr. died of a rare cancer at age 35 and left his stake in the company in a trust to help the needy. His father was later accused of mismanaging trust funds. The accusation was never proven.
In October 2002, the company announced that it planned to lay off 400 employees, 36% of its staff.{{cite news | url=https://www.cnet.com/news/commerce-one-cuts-deep/ | title=Commerce One cuts deep | first=Alorie | last=Gilbert | work=CNET | date=October 4, 2002}}
The company filed bankruptcy on October 6, 2004 and emerged from bankruptcy two months later.{{cite news | url=https://www.bizjournals.com/eastbay/stories/2005/03/07/story1.html | title=Commerce One rises from dot-ashes | work=American City Business Journals | date=March 6, 2005}}{{cite news | url=https://www.law360.com/articles/3393/mystery-solved-novell-behind-acquisition-of-commerce-one-patents | title=Mystery Solved: Novell Behind Acquisition Of Commerce One Patents | first=Marius | last=Meland | work=Law360 | date=May 3, 2005 | url-access=subscription}}
In December 2004, a portion of the company's patent portfolio was sold to JGR Acquisitions, a subsidiary of Novell, for $15.5 million and the remainder of the company was sold to ComVest Partners for $4.1 million.{{Cite news | url=https://www.eweek.com/it-management/commerce-one-patents-auctioned-off/ | title=Commerce One Patents Auctioned Off | first=Renee Boucher | last=Ferguson | work=eWeek | date=December 8, 2004}}
In February 2006, the company was acquired by Perfect Commerce.{{Cite news | url=https://comvest.com/comvest-sells-commerce-one-to-perfect-commerce-a-leading-provider-of-srm-solutions/ | title=ComVest Sells Commerce One to Perfect Commerce, A Leading Provider of SRM Solutions | publisher=Comvest Partners | date=February 7, 2006}}
In July 2017, Proactis acquired Perfect Commerce for $132.5 million.{{Cite press release | url=https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2017/07/07/1041291/0/en/Perfect-Commerce-Proactis.html | title=Perfect Commerce - Proactis | publisher=Globe Newswire | date=July 7, 2017}}{{cite news | url=https://www.proactis.com/uk/about-proactis/acquisitions/acquisitions/hubwoo-is-now-proactis/ | title=Hubwoo is now Proactis | work=Proactis Ltd | date=July 16, 2017}}