Quepasa Corporation was founded by
Jeffrey Peterson and co-founded by Michael Silberman in 1997. The company was headquartered in
Phoenix, Arizona, with offices in
Los Angeles, California and
West Palm Beach, Florida. In 1998 Quepasa raised
US$20 million from private investors, including television broadcaster
Telemundo and
Phoenix sports businessman
Jerry Colangelo.
Costa Rican president
Jose Maria Figueres and former CNBC chief business commentator
William Siedman joined the
board of directors. Quepasa had its
initial public offering on the
Nasdaq Stock Market on June 24, 1999, selling 4.6 million shares at $12 per share. During the first two weeks the value increased to $26 per share. By July 1999, Quepasa had raised over $100 million. Quepasa shares registered
billions of dollars per month in trading volume on
Nasdaq during the
dot-com Internet boom. In July 2011, the company led a merger with
myYearbook a teen focused social network. At the peak of the Internet boom in the year 2000, market research firm Cheskin Research ranked Quepasa as the most popular destination for U.S. Hispanics, despite costly marketing campaigns by
Starmedia and
Terra. Shares of Quepasa rose on
Nasdaq to a market value of $400 million at their peak. In 2010, an article published by
Adweek noted "record setting numbers for Quepasa" in a "fierce latin social networking climate" with
Facebook,
Hi5,
Tagged.com,
Sonico and others. In 2011 Quepasa announced a partnership with PRISA Digital, a Spanish media conglomerate. The agreement designates PRISA as a reseller of Quepasa advertising products. In 2011, Quepasa also acquired XtFt Games, owner of Brazil-based social game development studio TechFront. In May 2011 Quepasa launched its first social gaming title after the acquisition, Wonderful City - Rio, on Quepasa.com and Orkut.com. Quepasa launched the game in partnership with
Mentez, a
Latin American-focused
social network game publisher based in Miami.
Management controversy Shortly after Quepasa went public in late 1999, Quepasa founder
Jeffrey Peterson was ousted by a new CEO while co-founder Michael Silberman remained during a short transition period. During the
.com bust of 2001, Quepasa shares lost practically all of their value on
Nasdaq. When existing management attempted to liquidate company assets, Peterson with Silberman gained control of Quepasa through a successful hostile
takeover and
proxy fight subsequent to a lawsuit filed against the company and the current board of directors by Silberman. Peterson was reinstated in 2002 as chairman and CEO and Silberman as the executive vice president, chief financial officer and secretary of the company. The company was rebuilt and the share value during the following two-year period increased to $12 per share.
Events • June, 1997: Quepasa is incorporated as
Internet Century Inc. The business is initially operated as a high end web applications developer, with offices in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Los Angeles, California. • December 18, 1998: Changes name to Quepasa.com, Inc. • June 24, 1999: Quepasa goes public on
Nasdaq, selling 4 million shares at $12. • August 2, 1999: New Quepasa CEO Gary Trujillo fires founder Peterson, accusing him of starting a competing venture. • September, 1999: Quepasa signs
Gloria Estefan as its spokesperson, partner, and investor • March, 2000: Gateway Computer invests $10 million in Quepasa • April 17, 2000: Cheskin Research ranks Quepasa as #1 for U.S. Hispanics online • June, 2002: Founder Jeffrey Peterson and co-founder Michael Silberman again gain control of Quepasa through a takeover, reorganizing the business • December, 2002: co-founder Michael Silberman resigns as executive vice president, chief financial officer, and secretary and is appointed as the chairman of the audit committee by the board of directors. • August, 2005: Quepasa launches its
social network site, allowing users to switch between its news portal and the social site, formerly named
w1 because it used to reside in subdomain (www1.quepasa.com). • March, 2006: Billionaire investor
Richard Scott acquires stake in Quepasa
First publicly traded social network In 2010 and 2011, several media publications reported that Quepasa was the "only publicly traded social network" meaning Quepasa was the only social network trading on a
stock exchange at that time. Later in 2011, an article claimed that following its
initial public offering on May 4, 2011,
Renren became the first publicly traded social network. Yet at the time of RenRen's IPO, Quepasa was already a well-known publicly traded company with over 30 million This is especially noteworthy as the
initial public offering for the best-known social network in history,
Facebook, was Friday, May 18, 2012, a year after RenRen's IPO. If these historical dates prove correct, Quepasa may have been the first
social network to
go public and trade on a
stock exchange in history. ==References==