Steel Connect, Inc. is an American company that provides supply chain management services to software companies.
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| Formerly |
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|---|---|
| Company type | Public |
| Nasdaq: STCN Russell Microcap Index component | |
| Industry | Supply chain management |
| Founded | 1968 |
| Headquarters | Smyrna, Tennessee |
Key people | Warren G. Lichtenstein (interim CEO and executive chairman) |
| Revenue |  $819 million (2019) |
 -$66 million (2019) | |
| Total assets | $731 million (2019) |
| Total equity | $52 million (2019) |
Number of employees | 1,358 (2019) |
| Website | steelconnectinc |
| Footnotes / references [1] | |
History
The company was formed in 1968 as College Marketing Group by Glenn and Gail Mathews. At first, the company sold mailing lists of university faculty to textbook publishers.[2] In 1986, after a leveraged buyout, David Wetherell became CEO,[citation needed] and the company became known as CMGI, Inc.[2]
In February 1994, the company became a public company via an initial public offering. That same month, Wetherell founded BookLink, in which the company invested $900,000. BookLink was sold to America Online in November 1994, and the company used the proceeds of the sale to set up CMG @Ventures, a venture capital firm that invested in internet companies.[3]
The company invested $1 million for an 80% ownership interest in Lycos, which was its most profitable investment. In 1997, the company invested in Geocities and it also formed Navisite.[4][5] In June 1999, the company agreed to acquire an 83% stake in AltaVista from Compaq for $2.3 billion.[6] In September 1999, the company acquired AdForce, founded by Chad Steelberg, for $500 million.[7] In November 1999, Altavista acquired RagingBull.com after Wetherell noticed the website while on vacation.[8] During the dot-com bubble, the company, which was then known as CMGI, Inc., had a market capitalization of $41 billion and owned the naming rights to the new home stadium of the New England Patriots. Between 1995 and 1999, it had the best-performing stock in the United States, returning 4,921%. After the crash of the bubble, the stock price fell 99%.
In March 2000, the company acquired Yesmail.[9] In April 2000, the company acquired uBid.[10] In May 2000, the company acquired Tallan, Inc. for $920M.[11] In August 2000, the company agreed to pay $7.6 million per year for 15 years for the naming rights of the home stadium of the New England Patriots.[12] In August 2002, after the bursting of the dot-com bubble, the company modified the agreement and the stadium name was changed to Gillette Stadium.[13] In 2000, the company recorded a $661 million gain when Yahoo! acquired its interest in GeoCities. By that time, its stock price had declined 78% from its high earlier in the year.[14] In February 2004, the company acquired Modus Media.[15] In September 2008, the company changed its name to ModusLink Global Solutions, Inc.[16] In December 2017, the company acquired IWCO Direct for $476 million in cash.[17] In February 2018, the company changed its name to Steel Connect, Inc.[18] In May 2023, Steel Partners acquired majority control of the company and infused $200 million of cash into the company.[19]
References
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