🠈 1-800 Contacts 🠊
1-800 Contacts
1-800 Contacts is a site from Draper that revolutionized the way people buy contacts. The company was founded in 1995 by a certified optician who realized that patients were being dramatically overcharged for replacement contact lenses.
By ordering replacement contact lenses through a toll free number, patients were able to save hundreds of dollars.
1-800-Contacts road the Internet wave and created a robust system for ordering replacement lenses.
Optometrists were quite upset when 1-800 Contacts first went online. Requiring an expensive doctor's visit to order replacement lenses added to their bottom line. But, quite frankly, if your business model depends on overcharging patients for a product, then something is wrong with your business and not the technology that streamlines the ordering process.
Optometrists have since embraced information technology making contact lenses a viable solution for a greater portion of the public.
Corporate Ownership
According to past posts on Wikipedia:
- 1995: 1-800 CONTACTS was founded by Jonathan C. Coon and John F. Nichols.
- 1999: 1-800 CONTACTS acquired the domain glasses.com.
- 1998: The company raised $27.5 million in an IPO with the symbol CTAC.
- 2002: 1-800 Contacts acquired Lens Express.
- 2007: The company went private with assistance of Fenway Partners Capital Fund.
- 2012: Wellpoint, an insurance company, purchased 1-800 Contacts.
- 2014: Wellpoint sold glasses.com to Luxottica.
- 2014: Thomas Lee Partners acquired 1-800 CONTACTS.
- 2016: AEA Investors bought a majority stake in 1-800 Contacts.
- 2016: The FTC sued 1-800 Contacts over its keyword bidding arrangements.
The corporate office continues to be located in Draper, Utah.
References:
- Wikipedia - 1 800 Contacts (Drawn 3/23/2017)
- SEC - Merger w/ Fenway (Drawn 3/23/2017)
- NASDAQ - CTAC IPO (Drawn 3/23/2017)
Directory Listings:
- Internet Rivers - Eyewear: 1-800 Contacts
- Salt Lake Sites - Optometry: 1-800 Contacts
- Utah Color - Health: 1-800 Contacts
Prosperent Listing
This merchant was listed as an affiliated merchant on the Prosperent service. By passing the link through Prosperent, I might receive a commission on sales. Here is the Prosperent FTC Notice. Here is a list of all prosperent links in this project.
