Viant
{{for|the parent company of Myspace|Xumo}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Viant Inc.
| logo = Image:Viant-logo.JPG |
| caption =
| fate = acquired / bankruptcy
| successor = divine
| foundation = April 1996
| defunct = September 2002
| location = San Francisco, CA
| industry = internet consulting
| key_people = Eric Greenberg (founder)
}}
Viant Inc. was a multinational Internet consulting firm founded in San Francisco in 1996. It was one of the first web consulting firms during the early stages of the Internet era.
History
The company was founded by Eric Greenberg, Duc Haba, Dwayne Nesmith, and Robbie Vann-Adibé as Silicon Valley Internet Partners (SVIP).
It was one of the first consulting firms to attempt to integrate the disparate disciplines of strategy, 'creative' (design), and technology into a single value proposition and project approach. Such blended multi-disciplinary approaches have since become common.
With investment from Mohr Davidow Ventures, Trident Capital, and Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, SVIP grew rapidly.
Robert Gett, from Cambridge Technology Partners, was recruited in mid-1996 in be the CEO. At this point, SVIP corporate functions moved to Boston, Massachusetts. Greenberg left the company in early 1997, and subsequently founded Scient.
SVIP changed its name to Viant in the spring of 1998 after a company-wide vote. Its San Francisco Bay Area offices relocated in 1998 to the South of Market area in San Francisco.
The company went public in June 1999. By the end of that year Viant reached a stock price of US$ 105 per share and a market capitalization of over $2 billion.{{fact|date=May 2022}}
Vann-Adibé left the firm in early 2000.
The dot com bust hit the company hard, forcing layoffs in 2000, 2001 and 2002. Employees later nicknamed each round based on their dates and impact, calling the Dec 7th round (10% cut) the " Pearl Harbor" round, while the March 2001 and 2002 rounds (40% cuts) were referred to as "Hiroshima" and "Nagasaki".
The company was sold in September 2002 to Divine, a company founded by Andrew Filipowski.{{cite web|url=http://www.internetnews.com/xSP/article.php/1004541|title=Viant Accepts $96M divine Intervention|publisher=Internetnews.com}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
{{refbegin}}
- {{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/1999/02/17/feat.html|title=Viant: We only do digital|work=Forbes|date=February 17, 1999}}
- {{cite web|url=http://www.ddj.com/architect/184413803|title=Inside Design Shops: Within the Viant Experiment|publisher=Dr. Dobb's|date=January 1, 2002}}
- {{cite web|url=http://www.inc.com/magazine/19991201/15700.html|title=Mind Gains|publisher=Inc.com|date=December 1, 1999}}
- [https://209.10.50.214/nr/printable.jsp?ch_id=252&article_id=19391&print=1 "Putting the e in Diversity"]{{Dead link|date=December 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Vault.com
- [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1999_April_20/ai_54420729 "Viant Opens First International Office in London; Robbie Vann-Adibe and Michael Keany to Head Operations"], Looksmart
- {{cite web|url=http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2000/04/06/175268/wap-a-rocky-road-lies-ahead.htm|title=WAP: a rocky road lies ahead|publisher=Computerweekly.com|date=April 6, 2000}}
- {{cite web|url=http://www.kmworld.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=9896|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927051838/http://www.kmworld.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=9896|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 27, 2007|title=KM-- Its even in the furniture|publisher=KM World}}
{{refend}}
Category:Companies disestablished in 2002