Drkoop.com

Drkoop.com stands as a prominent case study from the dot-com era, illustrating the rapid ascent and subsequent collapse of an internet-based enterprise. The company was established in 1997, originally as Personal Medical Records Inc. (PMRi), by Donald W. Hackett, John Zaccaro, and other partners who enlisted former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop. Dr. Koop, a distinguished pediatric surgeon renowned for his public health advocacy on issues like smoking and AIDS, lent his considerable name and credibility to the venture, becoming its chairman and public face. The venture's core strategy was to leverage the public's trust in Dr. Koop to create a leading online health information portal.

The business operated as a consumer-facing health portal, providing medical information, news, and interactive communities. Its initial vision to create software for personal medical records evolved into a broader web-based platform. The primary business model was heavily reliant on advertising and sponsorship revenue. This was supplemented by content licensing agreements with hospitals and other partners. To drive traffic, Drkoop.com entered into high-cost distribution deals with major internet players, including a notable and expensive four-year, $89 million agreement with America Online (AOL).

The company experienced a spectacular, albeit brief, period of success following its initial public offering (IPO) on June 8, 1999. The stock, initially priced at $9 per share, surged to a high of over $45, valuing the company at more than $1 billion at its peak. However, the business model proved unsustainable. The firm's massive expenditures on marketing and portal deals, coupled with a high cash-burn rate and mounting losses, quickly eroded investor confidence. Ethical concerns also arose over the blurring of lines between editorial content and paid advertisements, which threatened the very credibility the brand was built upon. After failing to secure additional financing, Drkoop.com filed for bankruptcy in December 2001. In a final illustration of its downfall, the company's assets, including its domain name and a subscriber list of nearly one million users, were sold for just $186,000 in July 2002 to Vitacost.com.

Keywords: Drkoop.com, C. Everett Koop, dot-com bubble, online health portal, health information website, internet history, IPO, business failure, digital health, e-health, Donald Hackett, advertising business model, content licensing, AOL partnership, stock market crash, bankruptcy, dot-com bust, health ethics, brand credibility, Vitacost.com, public health information