Doug Dohring

[11] Dohring founded Neopets, Inc. after being introduced to the Neopets.com site by a mutual friend upon its December, 1999 launch by two British college students, Adam Powell and Donna Williams.

[13][14] According to a Harvard Business School case study, Neopets, Inc. had reached profitability four months after launching operations, "largely due to the fact that it spends nothing for customer acquisition, relying strictly on word-of-mouth".

While the "tech bubble" was bursting and large percentages of new websites were folding, Neopets was signing up 50,000 new accounts per day, with members spending an average of four hours or more per month on the site.

[17] At the time, approximately 140 million Neopets had been created, with advertising making up about 60% of the company's revenues and a line of plush toys sold through Target Corporation and other stores.

The Wall Street Journal said that ABCmouse was "designed to teach basic reading, math, science and other subjects to children between the ages of two and six.

"[20] Unlike Neopets, which relied on advertising, ABCmouse.com charges a subscription of $12.99 per month or $59.99 per year, and is free to individual teachers, libraries, Head Start programs, and other community organizations.

[22][23] Age of Learning, a privately held company, was reported to have reached a $1 billion valuation based on $150 million in funding from ICONIQ Capital in May 2016.