Netscape was the web-browser company whose 1995 IPO helped kick off the dot-com boom.
Netscape Communications grew out of Mosaic Communications, founded in 1994 by entrepreneur Jim Clark and programmer Marc Andreessen. Its first browser, initially called Mosaic Netscape and later Netscape Navigator, made the World Wide Web easier for ordinary computer users to explore. The company quickly became one of the most visible young businesses of the early internet.
Netscape’s IPO took place on August 9, 1995, only about sixteen months after the company was formed. Shares were initially planned at $14, but the offering price was doubled to $28 shortly before trading began. The stock reached $75 during its first day and closed at $58.25, giving the company a market value of roughly $2.9 billion.
The IPO mattered beyond Netscape itself. Its spectacular debut publicized the commercial potential of the internet and encouraged investors to fund many emerging online companies. It did not single-handedly create the later bubble, but it became a widely cited early spark of the dot-com boom. Netscape later lost the browser war to Microsoft Internet Explorer.