Lesson plan

Scient

Scient was a large San Francisco-based Internet consulting company founded in 1997, that was successful during the dot-com bubble. The company was founded by Eric Greenberg, who had previously founded its competitor, Viant. Its CEO was Robert Howe, the former head of IBM global consulting. At the time of the IPO in May 1999, the management team was still headed by Eric Greenberg, Chairman and Founder, and Robert M. Howe, President & Chief Executive Officer. At the height of its success, in the fall of 2000, Scient had quarterly revenues of US$100 million, with a stock price of $133, and a total of roughly 1,180 employees. In August 2001, Scient bought rival company iXL; by then its quarterly revenues were down to US$11 million. In July 2002, the company filed for bankruptcy and was bought by SBI and Company, which became SBI Group. SBI Group later sold Scient with the other members of Avenue A/Razorfish to a company called aQuantive. aQuantive was acquired by Microsoft in August 2007, to serve as Microsoft's newly created Advertiser and Publisher Solutions (APS) Group. On August 9, 2009, Microsoft sold the firm to Publicis Groupe for $530M in cash and stock.

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Article summary

Scient was a large San Francisco-based Internet consulting company founded in 1997, that was successful during the dot-com bubble. The company was founded by Eric Greenberg, who had previously founded its competitor, Viant. Its CEO was Robert Howe, the former head of IBM global consulting. At the time of the IPO in May 1999, the management team was still headed by Eric Greenberg, Chairman and Founder, and Robert M. Howe, President & Chief Executive Officer. At the height of its success, in the fall of 2000, Scient had quarterly revenues of US$100 million, with a stock price of $133, and a total of roughly 1,180 employees. In August 2001, Scient bought rival company iXL; by then its quarterly revenues were down to US$11 million. In July 2002, the company filed for bankruptcy and was bought by SBI and Company, which became SBI Group. SBI Group later sold Scient with the other members of Avenue A/Razorfish to a company called aQuantive. aQuantive was acquired by Microsoft in August 2007, to serve as Microsoft's newly created Advertiser and Publisher Solutions (APS) Group. On August 9, 2009, Microsoft sold the firm to Publicis Groupe for $530M in cash and stock.

Key claims

  1. date of foundation: 1997 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
  2. employees: 1,180 employees — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. The record states that the date of foundation is "1997". What evidence would count against this claim?
  3. The record states that the employees is "1,180 employees". What evidence would count against this claim?
  4. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  5. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

  1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1360207906

Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.