CDnow, Inc. was a dot-com company that operated an online shopping website selling compact discs and music-related products. In April 1998, during the dot-com bubble, the company was valued at over $1billion (~$ in ). In July 2000, it was acquired by Bertelsmann Music Group for $117million (~$ in ); shortly thereafter Amazon was contracted to operate the website. At its peak, it employed over 750 people and had offices in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, New York City, London, and Los Angeles.
Establishment and growth
CDnow was founded in February 1994 by twin brothers Jason Olim and Matthew Olim in their parents' basement in Ambler, Pennsylvania.[1] Initially launched as a Telnet service in August 1994, CDNow became a retail website in September 1994 using Valley Records Distributors as a drop-ship fulfillment center.[2]