Christopher Jaeb
 |
|
|
Type of site
|
Broadcasting Internet radio |
|---|---|
| Owner | Yahoo! |
| Founder(s) |
Christopher Jaeb Todd Wagner Mark Cuban Martin Woodall |
| Website |
broadcast broadcast (Both redirect to yahoo |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Launched | September 1995 (as AudioNet) |
| Current status | Discontinued |
Broadcast.com was an Internet radio company founded as AudioNet in September 1995 by Christopher Jaeb. Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban later led the organization and eventually sold to Yahoo! on April 1, 1999. for $5.7 billion, making it the most expensive acquisition Yahoo! has made. The service has since been discontinued.
The company was founded in 1989 as Cameron Audio Networks, named after its founder Cameron Christopher Jaeb, who received an initial investment from his father. Jaeb wanted a method for people to be able to listen to out of town sports games. The original idea, a shortwave radio that would receive broadcasts inside a sports venue, morphed into a hand-held device that would receive customized satellite broadcasts. With the support of his father Tom Jaeb, he incorporated.
The Internet had begun to gain popularity at that time and Jaeb hired Debian Social Contract founder Ean Schuessler and his brother to consult on bringing the idea to the Internet. The Schuesslers expanded the concept beyond sports and produced marketing materials and presentations for Jaeb to promote his idea.
Jaeb then began soliciting the rights to broadcast radio and professional sports games live on the Internet, making 80-100 calls per day.
In 1994, through a class that his girlfriend was taking, Jaeb was introduced to Todd Wagner, an attorney at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. Wagner introduced Jaeb to Mark Cuban, who invested $10,000 in exchange for 2% of the company. Cuban wanted to listen to the basketball games of his alma mater, Indiana University. Cuban and Wagner worked out a deal whereby Jaeb would keep 10% of the company and would get a monthly salary of $2,500 but Cuban would take control of the company. The company was renamed AudioNet.com in September 1995 in conjunction with the reorganization. At first Cuban picked up signals from KLIF (AM) in his bedroom and then streamed them on the internet. The company grew from mainly broadcasting sporting events to broadcasting U.S. presidential nominating conventions and many other events.
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Wikipedia