Top 10 Worst Performing Internet Stocks of 2005

Below are the 10 worst peforming stocks Internet stocks of 2005.  While some should survive to fight another day, others will likely not make it though 2006.  As bad as it is, it's actually not as bad as 2001 or 2002, years in which almost every stock in the Top 10 declined by over 90%+.  This year's number 10 stock didn't even decline by 50% which in some way kind of cheapens the award for everyone else.  Cynics will be pleased to note that 6 of 10 stocks went public in either 2004 or 2005 indicating that the government's huge crack down on underwriters in the wake of 2000's "bursting bubble" has been about as successful as all other government attempts to regulate the market.

The only real requirement to be part of this illustrious list is that the company had to start 2005 with at least $50M in market cap and its business had to be focused on the internet.  So, without further ado, here are the Top 10 Worst Performing Internet Stocks of 2005:

1.  AOL Latin America
   Price Change: -96.7% Ticker:AOLAQ.PK
   Comment: Latin American licensee of AOL went bankrupt and is now delisted. Perhaps Google knows Spanish? Vaya con dios!
2. Ecast
   Price Change: -92.7% Ticker:ECST
   Comment: Online “discount retailer” that is now offering a 93% discount on its own shares thanks to shrinking sales and growing losses.  Agreed to emergency merger with PFS Web in November.
3. Odimo
   Price Change: -83.9% Ticker: ODMO
   Comment:  Supposed competitor of Blue Nile that bought assets of former dot.com bomb Ashford.com and combined them with Diamond.com.  Went public in February, closed under offer price first day and never looked back.
   
4. Loudeye
   Price Change: -81.5% Ticker: LOUD
   Comment: Former encoding shop that is shuttering DRM business to focus on digital distribution after being rocked by financial restatements, executive departures, etc.
5. Miva
   Price Change: -72.1% Ticker: MIVA
   Comment: Formerly known as Findwhat.com, this paid-search pioneer found out what happens when you miss your numbers and fire your CFO.
6. Arbinet
   Price Change: -71.8% Ticker: ARBX
   Comment: “Bandwidth exchange” pioneer then went public in late ’04 missed numbers badly in ’05.
7. Shanda Interactive
   Price Change: -64.1% Ticker: SNDA
   Comment: After going public in early 2004 and becoming a market darling, this Chinese online gaming pioneer saw its stock hammered in 2005 as competition intensified.
   
8. Empire Online
   Price Change: -61.2% Ticker: EOL.L
   Comment: Online poker room “skin” saw it’s stock crater when Party Poker (the #1 site) moved Empire’s players off of Party’s site and on to their own little island.
9. Overstock
   Price Change: -59.2% Ticker: OSTK
   Comment: Online “retail liquidator” saw strong liquidations of its own stock as the company failed to make progress towards cash flow break-even and pre-announced a poor holiday season.
10. eLong
    Price Change: -45.8% Ticker: LONG
    Comment: Chinese online travel provider which suffered a strong decline following announcement of its Q4 2004 results.