Do They Make A Card That Says, "Look, We're Making Money Now"?

News You Could Do Without

from the click-here-to-read dept

One of the most visible signs of the dot-com bubble was the $780 million buyout of e-card site Blue Mountain Arts by Excite@home in 1999. Just why anybody would pay nearly $1 billion for an e-cards site with no real business plan wasn’t clear, and as part of its spectacular implosion, Excite dumped the property less than two years later for $35 million. But The New York Times reports that the online card industry is going through a resurgence, generating profits either through advertising or from subscription models. AmericanGreetings.com — formed from the purchase of Blue Mountain Arts — says it has 2.4 million subscribers at $14 per year, while a five-person company from the UK says it’s got 527,000 paying about $8 yearly. Those are decent revenues, generating healthly profits, the companies say — but certainly won’t ever justify the dot-com-era prices.