Public domain ↗
Webvan grocery tubs
- Year
- 1999
- Creator
- Louis Borders
- Company
- Webvan Group
- Location
- Foster City, California
- Room
- The Gold Rush ↗
Description
These plastic tubs carried groceries from Webvan's automated warehouses to the homes of customers. Louis Borders, a co-founder of Borders Books, started Webvan in December 1996, and deliveries in the San Francisco Bay Area started in June 1999.
Importance
Webvan raised $375 million from the public in November 1999, and it hired Bechtel to build up to 26 more distribution centers. Unlike eBay, which held no inventory, Webvan paid for warehouses, trucks, and stock. Its costs were much higher than its revenue, and in July 2001 it closed and filed for bankruptcy.
Interesting fact
Webvan lost at least $830 million before it closed, and it had approximately $40 million left at the end of June 2001.
Sources
- Webvan Group final IPO prospectus (Form 424B1) ↗U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission · 1999-11-05
- Webvan delivers its last word: Bankruptcy ↗CNET (Greg Sandoval) · 2001-07-09
- Webvan goes under: Online grocer shuts down, $830 million lost, 2,000 workers fired ↗San Francisco Chronicle (Ray Delgado) · 2001-07-09
- Dot Com Winners & Losers (CHM Revolution exhibition) ↗Computer History Museum
- Webvan Group Form 8-K: Chapter 11 filing on July 13, 2001 ↗U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission · 2001-07-27