On this day in 1995 American computer services company Netscape Communications Corp. went public after generating US$16.6 million in revenue over the course of 12 months. The company initially offered their stock at US$28 per share, which soared to US$75 on the first day of trading, a near record for a first-day gain. Their stock closed at US$58.25 that day, giving Netscape a market value of US$2.9 billion.
This among other events eventually led to Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Netscape, being featured on the cover of Time magazine the following year and dubbed as “the king of the future.”