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Money & Tech
22 posts filed under Money & Tech.
- Why Montgomery Ward Failed and Who Owns It NowMontgomery Ward closed all 250 stores in 2001 after 128 years. Colony Brands has owned the name since 2008 and sells it online at wards.com.
- Are LaserDiscs Worth Anything? The 2026 Collector MarketMost LaserDiscs are worth under $5, but scarce pressings run into the hundreds. Tokyo Raiders, the last title ever released, has fetched $5,700.
- Are Heelys Still Sold in 2026? Who Owns Them NowHeelys are still sold new in 2026, owned by BBC International, which paid $11 million for the brand in 2021. Peak year: 6.2 million pairs in 2006.
- Is Columbia House Still Around? The 2026 ShutdownColumbia House stops taking new orders after September 15, 2026, closing after 71 years. The club peaked in 1996 with 16 million members.
- Who Owns Yahoo Now? The $5 Billion Apollo TakeoverYahoo is owned by Apollo Global Management, which paid about $5 billion in 2021. Verizon kept 10 percent. Microsoft once offered $44.6 billion.
- Who Owns Sears Now, and How Many Stores Are Left?Sears is owned by Eddie Lampert's Transformco and it is still trading. The last count found five full-line stores left, down from about 3,500.
- Why Iridium Failed: The $5 Billion Satellite PhoneIridium put 66 satellites in orbit for about $5 billion, opened for business in 1998, and filed for bankruptcy nine months later. It sold for $25 million.
- The Beanie Babies Bubble: How a $5 Toy Went BustBeanie Babies were a $5 toy people traded like stocks in 1998. How Ty Inc. built the bubble, why it burst in 1999, and what the bears are worth now.
- theGlobe.com Today: The 606% IPO That Left a ShelltheGlobe.com is now an empty shell company with no employees and $15,115 in cash. Its 1998 IPO closed up 606 percent, a record that still stands.
- What Happened to Wine.com and the Internet Wine WarsThree companies burned through more than $200M trying to sell wine online between 1995 and 2001. The smallest one ended up owning the Wine.com domain.
- Is Lycos Still Around in 2026? Who Owns It NowLycos is still online in 2026 as a small portal owned through Brightcom Group. Terra Networks paid $12.5 billion for it; Ybrant paid $36 million.
- Is Craigslist Still Around in 2026? Who Owns It NowCraigslist is still online in 2026 and still owned by Craig Newmark and Jim Buckmaster, but revenue fell from $1.034 billion to $302 million.
- Why Boo.com Failed and Who Owns the Domain NowBoo.com burned $135 million in 18 months and collapsed on 18 May 2000. Hostelworld holds the domain now, bought out of a $375,000 fire sale.
- Is Excite@Home Still Around? AT&T Took the NetworkExcite@Home is gone. It filed for Chapter 11 in September 2001 and AT&T took the network for $307 million, about one percent of its $35 billion peak.
- Is AOL Time Warner Still a Company? What Is LeftAOL Time Warner stopped existing in 2009. AOL is being sold to Bending Spoons for $1.5 billion; Warner Bros. Discovery holds the rest.
- Did Amazon Almost Go Bankrupt in the Dot-Com Crash?Amazon never went bankrupt, but it came close: a Lehman analyst gave it four quarters of cash. A $672 million bond bought the time it needed.
- Is Webvan Still Around? The $830 Million CollapseWebvan shut down in July 2001 after burning about $830 million. Amazon owns the name now, and its founder is back with a robot warehouse.
- Is eBay Still Around in 2026? 135 Million BuyerseBay is still around in 2026: a public Nasdaq company with 135 million buyers and $79.6 billion sold in 2025. It started with a broken laser pointer.
- Why Pets.com Failed and Where the Sock Puppet WentPets.com sold pet food below cost, IPO'd at $11 in February 2000 and shut its store that November. PetSmart owns the domain; the sock puppet outlived it.
- Y2K Explained: What Really Broke on January 1, 2000The Y2K bug was real and the US spent about $100 billion killing it. Here is what still broke on January 1, 2000, from spy satellites to slot machines.
- What Is $1,000 From 1999 Worth in 2026 Dollars?$1,000 from 1999 is worth about $2,000 in 2026. That is two weeks of a family health premium now, and it no longer buys the average PC.
- 90s Tech Prices in 2026 Dollars: Full 40-Item TableA PlayStation cost $299 in 1995, or $655 in 2026 dollars. Forty sourced launch prices for 90s and early-2000s tech, adjusted with CPI-U.