Dot-com flops after huge IPOs

This year, internet giants LinkedIn, Groupon and Pandora all filed for IPOs. Attracting shareholders and raising millions, many have their fingers crossed wondering if these companies' business models are sustainable.

It's rumored that gaming company Zynga is preparing to file too, which could value the company who brought us Farmville at more than $10 billion. Facebook is also expected to file by next year and will be valued at as much as $80 billion.

Will these companies flop as other dot-com wonders have in the past? Let us refresh your memory. Here are eight dot-coms that were once deemed promising, but crashed and burned after high IPO hopes...

theGlobe.com

Pre-dating Facebook, social networking service theGlobe.com went live in April 1995 and went public in November 1998. At the time, the internet startup posted the largest first-day gain of any IPO. The following year, the company's stock price collapsed. They finally ceased operations in 2008 after many years of struggle.

Webvan

In 1999, Webvan promised to deliver groceries to customers in the San Francisco Bay area after they order online. After raising $375 million in an IPO, the online grocer expanded to eight other U.S. cities to build a gigantic infrastructure. However, due to the grocery business' small margins, the company couldn't attract enough customers to keep going. They closed in July 2001.

Demand Media

Content farmer Demand Media, which operates eHow and Cracked, was created in 2006. After its January 2010 IPO filing where the company raised $151.3 million, trading went as high as $27.38. But last month, that number was slashed in half its peak value. It was reported in August 2010, that the company has never been profitable.

eToys

Sixteen months after raising $166 million in an IPO in May 1999, online toy retailer eToys' stock plummeted to just 9 cents (which was at $84 per share in October 1999). The company invested millions in marketing and technology, but outspent their income. Investors left and the company closed in March 2001.

Pets.com

Online pet-supply store Pets.com and it's cute talking sock puppet mascot had to throw in the towel even after they raised $82.5 million in an IPO in 2000. Lesson to be learned? It doesn't matter if you spend millions of dollars in catchy advertising. If you can't give customers a reason to wait a few days for kitty litter or dog food, your business is not going to survive.

InfoSpace

InfoSpace, an online version of yellow pages, launched in 1996. The company went public in December 1998, raising $75 million in its offering. By March 2000, the company's stock price had reached $1,305, but dropped in June 2002 to $2.67.

Lastminute.com

Online travel agency and e-tailer Lastminute.com crashed and burned with the dot-com bubble in the U.K. during the late 1990s. By January 2000, Lastminute.com had over 500,000 regular users buying up distressed inventory. It raised $31 million from investors in March 2000, but its share price dropped within two weeks. Up until 2005, the company had not made any net profit.

FreeInternet.com

Internet service provider FreeInternet.com (also known as Freei) didn't actually go public. The ad-supported company, which was the fifth largest ISP in the U.S. at the time with 3.2 million users, filed for bankruptcy in October 2000 after canceling its IPO.