Pixelon
{{short description|Scandal-ridden dot-com company}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Pixelon
| logo =
| type = Private
| industry = Online video delivery service
| fate = Liquidation
| founded = {{Start date and age|1998}} in San Juan Capistrano, California
| founder = "Michael Fenne", an alias used by fugitive David Kim Stanley
| defunct = {{End date and age|2000|06|}}
| hq_location_city = San Juan Capistrano, California
| hq_location_country = US
| key_people =
| products = vaporware
| num_employees =
| num_employees_year =
| website = {{URL|https://web.archive.org/web/20000614175015/http://www.pixelon.com:80/|Archive of Pixelon website just before bankruptcy}}
}}
Pixelon was an American dot-com company founded in 1998 that promised better distribution of high-quality video over the Internet. It was based in San Juan Capistrano, California. It gained fame for its extravagant Las Vegas launch party, followed by its sudden and violent decline less than a year later as it became evident it was using technologies that were, in fact, fake or misrepresented.{{cite web |url=http://prote.in/feed/2000/05/the-16m-pixelon-party |title=The $16m Pixelon Party |accessdate=2012-07-10 |date=2000-05-18 |work=The Protein Feed |archive-date=2016-03-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311063926/https://www.prote.in/feed/2000/05/the-16m-pixelon-party |url-status=dead }} Its founder, "Michael Fenne", was actually David Kim Stanley, a convicted felon involved in stock scams who was "on the lam and living out of the back of his car" when he arrived in California two years earlier.{{cite news |url=https://www.wired.com/2000/05/perilous-fall-of-pixelon/ |title=Perilous Fall of Pixelon |accessdate=2024-08-12 |date=2000-05-16 |magazine=Wired Magazine}}{{cite web |url=http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,127116-page,5-c,sites/article.html |title=The 25 Worst Web Sites |accessdate=2012-07-10 |first=Dan |last=Tynan |date=2006-09-15 |magazine=PC World}} In the year 2000, Pixelon began to fire employees and reduce its operations until its bankruptcy.{{cite web |url=http://news.com/2100-1023-240493.html?legacy=cnet |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130915025824/http://news.com/2100-1023-240493.html?legacy=cnet |archive-date=2013-09-15 |title=Pixelon issues sweeping layoffs after founder's arrest |accessdate=2012-07-10 |first=Patricia |last=Jacobus |date=2000-05-12 |work=CNET News |url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://www.cnet.com/news/pixelon-issues-sweeping-layoffs-after-founders-arrest/ |title=Pixelon issues sweeping layoffs after founder's arrest |date=2002-01-02 |website=CNET |access-date=2019-01-20}} Pixelon ousted their management team and filed for bankruptcy in June 2000.{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-jun-27-fi-45207-story.html |title=Pixelon Ousts Execs, Plans on Chapter 11 Filing |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=June 27, 2000 |first=P.J. |last=Huffstutter}}
iBash '99
The party event for Pixelon's product launch, called "iBASH '99", was held October 29, 1999, at the MGM Grand Las Vegas, at a reported cost of US$16 million. The lineup featured performances by Chely Wright, LeAnn Rimes, Faith Hill, Dixie Chicks, Sugar Ray, Natalie Cole, KISS, Tony Bennett, the Brian Setzer Orchestra, and a reunion of the Who.{{cite press release |url=http://www.alanwallace.com/iagency/public_relations/archives/1999/pixelon.10.27.99.html |title=Pixelon.com Announces iBash '99 |accessdate=2016-08-24 |date=1999-10-27 |publisher=InterActive Agency, Inc. |archive-date=2016-08-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160826215347/http://www.alanwallace.com/iagency/public_relations/archives/1999/pixelon.10.27.99.html |url-status=dead }}{{cite press release |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1999_Oct_29/ai_57002843/ |title=Pixelon.com Launches Today With Star-Studded iBASH '99 as the First Full-Screen, Full-Motion, TV-Quality Internet Broadcaster |accessdate=2012-07-11 |date=1999-10-29 |publisher=Business Wire |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080619003943/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1999_Oct_29/ai_57002843 |archive-date=2008-06-19 |via=FindArticles |url-status=live }}
Pixelon announced that iBash would be broadcast over the Internet as a technology demonstration. The live stream displayed error messages to thousands of people, and most of those watching the concert did so with Microsoft's streaming software instead of Pixelon's.{{cite web |url=http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,8459,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000621115956/http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0%2C1151%2C8459%2C00.html |archive-date=2000-06-21 |title=Pixelon's Broken Promises |accessdate=2016-08-24 |first=Dan |last=Goodin |date=2000-01-03 |work=The Industry Standard |url-status=dead }} Pixelon leased the large video screen on One Times Square in New York City to show an eight-hour-plus live feed of the event.{{cite press release |url=http://www.widescreenreview.com/news_detail.php?id=1603 |title=Pixelon.com Launch Sets New Standard For Compelling Internet Programming |accessdate=2016-08-24 |date=1999-11-02 |work=Widescreen Review}} An edited 2-hour show aired on October 30, 1999 on Pax TV (now known as Ion Television).{{cite magazine
|last=Traiman |first=Steve |date=1999-10-30 |title=Vegas Music Bash Kicks Off Pixelon Web Site |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eAgEAAAAMBAJ&q=ibash+%2799+pax+tv&pg=PA52 |magazine=Billboard |access-date=2016-08-25 |page=52 |via=Google Books}}
iBash was produced by Woody Fraser Productions and was hosted live by David Spade and Cindy Margolis.{{cite web |url=http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,16317,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000711020617/http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0%2C1151%2C16317%2C00.html |archive-date=2000-07-11 |title=The Great Internet Con |accessdate=2012-03-01 |first=Dan |last=Goodin |date=2000-06-26 |work=The Industry Standard |url-status=dead }}{{cite news |url=https://ew.com/article/1999/11/19/ibash99/ |title=iBash99 |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |date=1999-10-19 |author=}} The Who later released their set as a DVD titled The Vegas Job, featuring two short pre-show interviews with Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle, and a short after-crash interview with David Kim Stanley admitting to embezzlement.
Aftermath
The history of the company has been the subject in 2019 National Geographic's docudrama miniseries Valley of the Boom.{{cite news |url=https://www.wired.com/wiredinsider/2019/01/remembering-greatest-con-silicon-valley-history/ |title=Remembering The Greatest Con In Silicon Valley History |magazine=Wired Magazine |date=January 2019 |first=Taj |last=Tsonga}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{official website|https://web.archive.org/web/20000614175015/http://www.pixelon.com:80/}} (website archive of 2000-06-14, just before bankruptcy filing)
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20150819080755/http://davidkimstanley.com/ David Kim Stanley's personal web site] [archived]
- [https://www.youtube.com/user/dazzlindavestanley David Kim Stanley's YouTube channel]
{{Dot-com Bubble}}
Category:Defunct online companies of the United States
Category:Fraud in the United States
Category:Internet properties disestablished in 2000
Category:Internet properties established in 1998
Category:1998 establishments in California
Category:2000 disestablishments in California
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