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- StarMedia is a leading Latin Internet brand, founded in August 1996 by Fernando Espuelas and Jack Chen as the first pan-regional Internet portal for Spanish and Portuguese speaking audiences. During the dot. com boom of the 1990s, StarMedia became an iconic company when it raised the first dollar of venture capital for a Latin Internet company, and then did the first IPO in the sector, while becoming one of the top 10 biggest sites on the Internet, measured by audience, and the only one not in English. Under Espuelas' leadership, StarMedia launched a massive marketing effort to attract the very first Internet users, advertisers and e-commerce companies across the Latin world. Called the "Espuelas Effect" by leading Brazilian news weekly Exame, StarMedia was the catalyst for the Internet industry throughout Latin America. While Espuelas was CEO, Starmedia was the leading Latin portal, serving over 25 million Spanish and Portuguese speakers every month across the Latin world. In total, StarMedia raised over $500 million in a series of private and public offerings, reaching a market capitalization of over $3.8 billion dollars at its peak. According to the Harvard Business School Case StarMedia: Launching a Latin American Revolution, by 1999 StarMedia was the Latin American market leader. StarMedia is now owned by France Telecom subsidiary Orange, serving "more than 24 million" Hispanic Internet users per month, according to company statements in 2008. StarMedia, acquired by France Telecom in 2002, is a free-to-web global service connecting Spanish-speakers through the Internet as well as providing consumers relevant and extensive information and services. StarMedia has local operations in Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Spain and throughout the United States (Los Angeles, Miami and New York)
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