USWeb was an interactive design agency founded in 1995 by former Novell executives Joe Firmage, Toby Corey, ken Campbell, Jim Heffernan and Sheldon Laube during the dot com bubble.
In late 1999 the company announced that it was being acquired by Whittmann-Hart, a Chicago-based internet consultancy.
[5][6] USWeb's business model focused on acquisitions of small, independent web design firms and their client bases, with the company's public stock as payment; in all, it bought more than three dozen other companies.
[7] Critics, including competitors and analysts, expressed skepticism citing doubts that USWeb would find a niche market in an industry that put a high premium on innovation, and questioned its ability to sustain client retention and growth with its brand and services.
[10] Firmage publicly claimed that extraterrestrials had revealed advanced technologies to him and knowledge of alien civilizations.