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The Party That Belonged in a Museum
The dot-com explosion was a fun ride, but it’s implosion was as predictable as ice melting.
It was just weeks after we went public, our shares hitting the market in the low 80s. We were merged with a few other web properties and brought under the umbrella of the peacock, the sure-fire can’t miss brand of NBC. I remember calling a taxi (yeah, a yellow cab, because that’s all there was then) in order to make it in time to the office to watch with everyone else our grand opening on NASDAQ.
Shares hit triple-digits, I think as much as $110. I had a few hundred stock option at a very low price. I was going to make a decent chunk of change, but wouldn’t be able to retire or anything.
But the COO could have, which is why he sent a company-wide e-mail asking employees not to flood the market by selling our options all at once. The dip had begun, with the price now in the low 90s. One of the stupidest mistakes I’ve made was to hold onto my shares day after day, week after week, until they were in the low 50s. What was I waiting for? When the company eventually shut down, the stock was worth less than two dollars.
It was December. The company at that point was still optimistic, and it showed in our holiday party, held at the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. We were celebrating the holidays, the…
