The company was formed in 1968 as College Marketing Group by Glenn and Gail Mathews.

At first, the company sold mailing lists of university faculty to textbook publishers.

[4][5] In June 1999, the company agreed to acquire an 83% stake in AltaVista from Compaq for $2.3 billion.

[6] In September 1999, the company acquired AdForce, founded by Chad Steelberg, for $500 million.

[8] During the dot-com bubble, the company, which was then known as CMGI, Inc., had a market capitalization of $41 billion and owned the naming rights to the new home stadium of the New England Patriots.