History
uBid.com was formed and launched in 1997, originally as a subsidiary of PC Mall. In December 1998, during the dot-com bubble, the company became a public company via an initial public offering, and achieved a market capitalization value of over 1.8 billion dollars at one point. After pricing at $15/share, the stock price reached $67 per share on its first day of trading. [1] [2] The company officially spun off from PC Mall with its co-founding management team in 1999. Ownership has changed multiple times over the years. [3] [4] [5] In 2000, CMGI (now Steel Connect) acquired uBid in a stock transaction. [6] In June 2001, the company reached an agreement to feature its listings on Yahoo! Auctions. [7] In November 2002, the company laid off 52 employees. [8] In 2003, CMGI sold uBid to Takumi Interactive, owned by Tom Petters and Petters Group Worldwide. [9] In 2006, the company acquired the assets of Bidville.com. [10]
In 2010 the company underwent an involuntary bankruptcy petition. [11] In October 2018, the company merged with Incumaker and in February 2019, the company changed its name to uBid Holdings, Inc. In 2020, the company began rebranding itself as a restaurant and entertainment digital coupon company after purchasing Restaurant.com and was renamed to RDE, Inc. [12] As of 2022, the uBid website had been taken offline.
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