Whittman-Hart
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Digital communication services, IT consulting |
| Founded | 1984 |
| Founder | Bob Bernard, Bill Merchantz, Rich Colson, Bill Topol |
| Defunct | 2013 |
| Fate | Merged to form MarchFIRST Inc. in 2000; assets sold off after bankruptcy in 2001 |
| Headquarters | Chicago , United States |
Area served | United States, United Kingdom |
Key people | Bob Bernard (founder and CEO until merger), Robert Shaw (chairman of MarchFIRST) |
Number of employees | Approx. 3,900 (1999), approx. 9,000 post-merger (2000) (1999, 2000) |
| Website | www |
Whittman-Hart was a company providing digital communication services, established in 1984. It experienced consistent growth until 1999, when it expanded significantly through the acquisition of US Web/CKS, more than doubling its size. The merged entity was officially re-incorporated as marchFIRST, inc on March 1, 2000. However, after filing for bankruptcy the previous month, marchFIRST was liquidated in May 2001.
Early history
The firm was founded near Chicago in 1984 by Bob Bernard, Bill Merchantz, Rich Colson, and Bill Topol, initially focusing on consulting services for IBM AS/400 IT systems. In 1990, Merchantz departed with the software division, leaving Bernard to lead the consulting operations, which at that time generated $9 million annually.
Over the following 15 years, the company expanded steadily, including through acquisitions, and went public in 1996. In 1997, it was recognized by Fortune magazine as one of the fastest-growing companies in the United States.
For the nine-month period ending September 30, 1999, Whittman-Hart reported revenues of $342.7 million and net income of $21.3 million.
In November 1999, Whittman-Hart acquired Fulcrum Solutions Ltd., a UK-based specialist in Oracle technologies. At that time, the company had approximately 3,900 employees spread across 22 offices in both the US and UK.
Merger with USWeb/CKS
In December 1999, Whittman-Hart declared its intention to acquire USWeb/CKS, a California-based web consulting firm, for $5.7 billion in stock. Despite being labeled an acquisition, USWeb shareholders received 57% ownership of the resulting company, effectively making it a merger.
On March 1, 2000, the combined company adopted the name MarchFIRST Inc., employing roughly 9,000 people worldwide—about 8,000 in the United States and approximately 1,500 near Chicago—with annual revenues close to $500 million. Robert Shaw, former CEO of USWeb, assumed the role of chairman while Bernard continued as CEO. MarchFIRST’s stock traded on Nasdaq and reached a peak price near $52 per share.
Following the burst of the dot-com bubble, MarchFIRST’s performance deteriorated rapidly. In October 2000, after reporting a third-quarter loss of $437 million on sales of $369 million—a decline of 20% from the previous quarter—the stock price plummeted nearly 60%.
In November 2000, Bernard announced a strategic realignment focusing on traditional businesses developing e-commerce capabilities; this involved dropping over 1,000 smaller clients to concentrate on their top 500 customers.
By December 2000, private equity firm Francisco Partners invested $150 million in preferred stock representing a 32% ownership stake.
On February 13, 2001, missed earnings targets triggered an additional stock decline of approximately 35%. The following month saw Bernard resigning as CEO along with other executives amid workforce reductions totaling around 1,500 employees over four months.
By late March 2001, MarchFIRST shares had fallen to $0.16. On April 2nd, the company announced further layoffs affecting an additional 1,700 employees.
On April 13, MarchFIRST filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and transitioned to Chapter 7 liquidation by May 1.
Most of its assets were acquired by Divine for $120 million; Divine itself filed for bankruptcy in 2003. Some former executives including Bernard purchased certain assets back. Additional assets were obtained by SBI (Salt Lake City) and Itera ASA (Norway) during mid-2001.
Post-bankruptcy
Although the company's assets were sold off in 2001, its corporate entity remained entangled in bankruptcy proceedings for an additional two years.
In 2003, Bernard revived a more focused Internet technology consulting business under the WhittmanHart brand (omitting the hyphen), with operations established in five Midwestern locations, including Chicago.
From 2005 through 2006, WhittmanHart grew by acquiring several firms such as Ohio's Infinis Inc, Philadelphia's Insight Interactive Group Inc, Maryland's Estco.net, Chicago's Vision Enterprises, and Los Angeles' DNA Studio. Bernard died in February 2007.
On July 29, 2008, Rolta India Ltd purchased WhittmanHart's consulting arm. Subsequently, on September 28, 2010, the company was renamed Band Digital, Inc.
External links
- Former official website: http://www.whittmanhart.com/
- Information technology consulting firms of the United States
- Defunct online companies of the United States
- Defunct companies based in Chicago
- Consulting firms established in 1984
- Technology companies established in 1984
- Technology companies disestablished in 2013
- Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2001
- Companies that filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2001
- Defunct companies based in Illinois