Top 10 Companies From The 2000s That Don't Exist Anymore

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for companies that rose to relevance in the 2000s, but have since disappeared, gone defunct, or were absorbed into larger corporations.

#10: Joost (2007-2012)

Before YouTube took over the world, there was Joost. Created by the minds behind Skype and Kazaa, Joost was a peer-to-peer online video platform that aimed to revolutionize home entertainment by streaming shows and movies online. Masquerading under the code name “The Venice Project,” Joost was finally launched in 2007 amid huge media buzz. Unfortunately, Joost couldn’t sustain the hype that followed its launch. Unable to scale quickly enough, and plagued by licensing issues, a clunky interface, and slow buffering, Joost lost its users. Competing platforms like Hulu and YouTube were the nail in the coffin. By 2012, Joost was dead in the water.

#9: Avatar Reality (2006-2014?)

Final Fantasy met Tetris when industry veterans Kazuyuki Hashimoto and Henk Rogers joined forces to found Avatar Reality in 2006. They were poised to create a next-gen multiplayer virtual world platform called Blue Mars. Aiming to bring together individuals from around the world, the Hawaii-based startup was hailed as the future of social interactions. But limited press coverage and poor marketing meant users had no idea of Blue Mars’ existence. Server costs, technical limitations, and a severe lack of user adoption did not help. The platform’s ambition was too big for its infrastructure and both Blue Mars and Avatar Reality faded into the digital ether.

#8: Wesabe (2005-2010)

Before digital services became mainstream, managing personal finances was not an enjoyable experience. When Wesabe came around in 2005 as everyone’s go-to budgeting app, it seemed to spell inevitable success. Wesabe aimed to help users manage their finances with bank integrations, budgeting tools, and community tips. It was the precursor to what is now a standard feature in the financial landscape. But customer delivery and experience are equally important to service. Wesable lacked this. Its complex user interface, unfinished data acquisition system, and delayed data syncing made it untenable as a budgeting tool. Despite early traction, Wesabe fell behind its immediate competitor, Mint, which offered users a sleeker experience and efficient automation, before closing down in 2010.

#7: Bebo (2005-2013)

A social media darling of the early 2000s, Bebo operated from 2005 until its downfall in 2013. Popular in the UK and Ireland, Bebo advocated for its users to “Blog early, Blog often.” As a social networking website, Bebo surpassed the MySpace juggernaut, becoming a central hangout for teens. In 2008, at its peak, AOL acquired Bebo for $850 million. However, the emergence of new competitor platforms led to Bebo’s downward spiral. By 2010, the platform’s poor integration and Facebook’s dominance led AOL to sell off Bebo for a fraction of its buying cost. Attempted relaunches were unsuccessful and Bebo was basically gone by 2013. Beloved for its quirky charm, Bebo couldn’t keep up with the times and eventually went extinct.

#6: THQ (1990-2013)

When it came to video games in the early 2000s, THQ was the big dog. Founded in April 1990, Toy Headquarters initially focused on toys before expanding into the video game industry. By the 2000s, THQ was consistently hitting its stride, making multiple acquisitions in the industry and delivering hits like Darksiders and Saints Row. In 2008, the global financial crisis severely impacted the video game industry. In its aftermath, a combination of changing market dynamics and poor investments led to THQ’s shares plummeting in the stock market. The company declared bankruptcy in 2012. Its assets were sold off. The THQ name was eventually revived under THQ Nordic. But the original company that helped shape mid-2000s gaming was long gone.

#5: Friendster (2002-2011)

The long-forgotten ancestor of Facebook and MySpace, Friendster went live in March 2003 and was one of the first social networking and online dating platforms. Users could create profiles, share their photos, and build a network of, well, friends. Friendster was most popular in Southeast Asia, and at its peak, it had over 100 million users. But good things always come to an end. As Friendster continued to scale up to meet customer demands, it faced many issues. Slow servers, as well as poor management and user experience, contributed to Friendster’s decline. After a failed pivot into social gaming, Friendster shut down as a social network site in 2011. A pioneer for the social networking landscape, Friendster’s time came too soon.

#4: Compaq (1982-2002)

Compaq produced some of the very first IBM PC compatible computers and became the largest supplier of PC systems in the 90s. You’d think Compaq would be thriving today. However, in the digital age, the company is nowhere to be found. The economic expansion of the 1990s prompted Compaq to acquire major equipment manufacturers for billions of dollars. This backfired as cultural differences between companies led to inefficiencies and complexities. By the early 2000s, cost cutting and internal conflicts weakened the brand. In 2002, Compaq was acquired by HP. Its name lingered for a few years on budget laptops, but the brand’s presence gradually vanished. A titan was reduced to a footnote in the tech industry.

#3: LimeWire (2000-2010)

Long before Spotify made its roost, LimeWire was the go-to for music lovers who wanted to download their favorite songs, often illegally. A familiar name in the bootleg CD era, LimeWire was a peer-to-peer file-sharing software that exploded in popularity during the 2000s. Music, movies, software - you name it, LimeWire had it. The dubious nature of transactions on LimeWire made it infamous for viruses and lawsuits. At one point, LimeWire was installed on over one-third of all computers worldwide, fueling a global frenzy. In 2010, a U.S. federal court ruled that LimeWire had committed copyright infringement and enforced its shutdown. A software that brought joy and trouble for its users, LimeWire defined a generation of digital music consumption.

#2: Blockbuster Online (2004-2010)

When mail-based DVD rental services like Netflix entered the market, old-timer Blockbuster launched a bid for its own DVD-by-mail service in 2004. Dubbed Blockbuster Online, the service mirrored Netflix’s subscription model and even allowed in-store exchanges. Amid the rapidly changing landscape of digital entertainment, it felt like Blockbuster had finally cracked the code to immortality. Still, success is built on consistency. Blockbuster was “lackluster” in this area. Slow innovation, poor leadership, and Netflix’s rapid pivot to streaming led to Blockbuster's demise. In 2010, the company filed for bankruptcy; the company would struggle on for a little longer but was essentially finished. Blockbuster’s decline to Netflix was all the more ironic, as it had the opportunity to purchase the once-fledgling company.

#1: BlackBerry (1999-2016)

Once the go-to smartphone for executives and politicians alike, BlackBerry was a signature of its own. Offering two-way communication, as opposed to the now-ancient one-way commercial pagers, it also removed user reliance on a personal computer for communication. BlackBerry was dubbed “CrackBerry” due to its addictive nature. Upon becoming president, Barack Obama fought to keep his device. The humble BlackBerry was everywhere. The iPhone’s arrival in 2007 marked a new era of touchscreen devices and app ecosystems. BlackBerry failed to adapt. By 2016, its market share had collapsed. Today, BlackBerry still exists as a software firm, but its imprint in the phone business has long since vanished.

Which of these companies do you still remember? Let us know in the comments, and don’t forget to like and subscribe for more nostalgia-fueled top 10s.