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JupiterMedia, Inc. , is a U.S.-based corporation, established in 1994, that manages the Internet.com portal as well as many other internet properties.

JupiterMedia is divided into four divisions: Online Images (JupiterImages), Online Publishing (JupiterWeb), Research (JupiterResearch) and Events (JupiterWebevents)

History

In 1994, Alan Meckler, then CEO of Mecklermedia, created MecklerWeb as an addendum to his offerings in print (Virtual Reality World, CDrom World, and Internet World) and conferences (Internet World, Virtual Reality World). In 1995, he added a discussion forum on CompuServe and hired Tristan Louis to build it up. In 1996, Louis took over MecklerWeb, renamed it iWorld and relaunched it as a network of sites focused on servicing the Internet industry focusing on a strategy that included acquiring a number of vertically focused sites to develop a network.

In 1996, iWorld signed content partnerships with InfoSeek, Yahoo, Excite, and Bloomberg.

In 1998, Mecklermedia was acquired by Penton Media and the online assets were spun off into a separate company called Internet.com. Internet.com went public on the NASDAQ in the second half of 1999 (trading as INTM). In 2000, Internet.com bought the assets of Jupiter Inc. and renamed the company JupiterMedia, with a new stock trading as JUPM. As part of the acquisition, the company also acquired a consulting practice, which it renamed JupiterResearch and started to launched tradeshows under the banner of JupiterWebEvents.

In the early 2000s, the company started acquiring image assets and developed JupiterImages as a separate division.

Online Content: JupiterWeb

The JupiterWeb network includes Internet.com, Earthweb.com, DevX , and Graphics.com.

Internet.com

The history of Internet.com starts in the early days of the web, as Alan Meckler launched MecklerWeb with a goal of providing a hosted web environment for businesses. As the nature of the web showed little need for such offering, he repurposed the site to deliver information about the trade shows and magazine his company, Mecklermedia, was running.

In 1995, the site was relaunched under the name iWorld and started offering original content on a daily basis, focusing on servicing the Internet community through news and other resources. Throughout the 90s, the site's popularity grew and its director of development, Tristan Louis, set out a strategy that would mix organic growth with a rapid rampup through acquisitions. In 1995 and 1996, the site performed a few dozen acquisitions, adding such resources as TheList.com (ISP directory), ServerWatch and ServerCompare (server reviews and comparisons), WebReference.com and others.

In 1996, the site was renamed internet.com, after purchasing the name from a consulting company called the Internet Company.

In 1997, Mr. Louis left the company to launch Earthweb's Developer.com. Following his departure, the site continued on the same acquisition strategy, acquiring sites like Webopedia, a free online dictionary for words, phrases and abbreviations that are related to computer and Internet technology.

The company also started offering foreign language versions targeting non-US markets and worked in partnerships with different companies in Mexico, China, and Europe.

In 1998, following the acquisition of Internet.com's parent company (Mecklermedia) by Penton Media, the online unit was spun off as Internet.com LLC and, in 1999, was introduced on the stock market as INTM.

Earthweb.com

When Mr. Louis left Internet.com, he joined Earthweb, a java consulting company which hired him to help them monetize a Java directory (called Gamelan.com) they had created. Mr. Louis applied the lessons he learned at Internet.com and created developer.com to service IT managers, hardware and systems professionals, networking & communications Administrators, and software developers.

Following a similar strategy, he was responsible for the acquisition of such sites as JARS, Datamation, and CIO update. Mr. Louis left the company in 1998 over disagreements on strategy, looking to a pure content play as the source for revenues while the other partners looked to follow a strategy that would target the recruitment market. After his departure, the company acquired Dice.com, a large IT recruiting site.

In December 2000, Internet.com acquired the content assets of Earthweb and incorporated them into their online offerings.

In 2001, the company acquired HTML Goodies, an online tutorial website established in 1994 by Joe Burns, which originally specialised in HTML tutorials, but now contains tutorials on most Internet markup and programming languages and merged it under the Earthweb.com banner.

DevX

In 2003, JupiterMedia (which was born out of the acquisition of Jupiter by Internet.com in 2001) acquired DevX and entered the premium content business, offering downloadable code libraries and complete development course package either on a per use basis or on a subscription model.

In a move that follows a custom publishing model, DevX introduced new advertising programs that allowed large software vendors to get customized portals servicing their development community built easily using tools used by JupiterMedia.

The company also entered into partnerships with several software publishers and started offering software packages for download. Each Portal offering mixes training components with expert tips, code libraries, collaboration tools, discussion communities, and premium content and services.

Graphics.com

In 2005, following the acquisition of many image library, JupiterMedia created Graphics.com to service the creative design community.

Research and Consulting: JupiterResearch

JupiterResearch which was known as Jupiter Communications back in the hey day of the 1990s was one of the leading research companies servicing the rapidly growing internet economy. At it's peak Jupiter Communications, then Jupiter Research, then Jupiter Media Metrix had operations in London, San Francisco, Stockholm, Sydney and Tokyo. After its near bankruptcy in July of 2002, the was bought out http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2002/06/17/daily75.html and merged into JupiterMedia. The division provides research, analysis and advice, backed by proprietary data, to help companies profit from the impact of the Internet and emerging consumer technologies on their business.

The division's subscription-based syndicated research allows clients to receive information about trends in the Internet industry. It couples access to a rich library of written research and data in dozens of key technology, functional and industry vertical coverage areas with unlimited access to the thought-leading analysts who write the research.

The custom research and consulting service group enables clients to direct the division's resources toward specific topics of critical business importance to the customer in a short-term engagement.

The web site review service is a structured, quick-turnaround engagement that delivers a third-party expert assessment of a company's Web site and provides specific suggestions for improving the effectiveness of the site.

Events: JupiterWebEvents

The division organizes several trade shows in the Internet industry.

Images: JupiterImages

This division, which was born in 2004 as the result of the merger of several of JupiterMedia's image properties, provides rights managed and royalty free images. It has become the 3rd largest Stock photography group after Getty Images and Corbis.

JupiterImages is one of the leading images companies in the world with over 7.0 million images online serving creative professionals with brands like BananaStock, Brand X, FoodPix, Botanica, Nonstock, Comstock Images, Creatas Images, PictureQuest, Liquid Library, Thinkstock Images, Thinkstock Footage, Goodshoot, ITStockFree, Photos.com, Ablestock.com, PhotoObjects.net, Clipart.com and Animations.com

External links

Stock Photo Industry News

Stock Photo Agency Associations

Stock photography | 1994 establishments

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Jupitermedia".

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