Type of site Portal Registration 1999 Current status Not Active | Launched 18 December 1999 | |
Owner Hachette Rusconi S.p.A. | ||
CiaoWeb was an Italian web portal started up by the FIAT Group with an initial investment of 200 billion Italian Lira (100 million Euro). The project for the development of the portal had been assigned to a group of companies under the control of Ernst & Young and under the responsibility of Alessandro Gadotti, at the time Partner in Ernst & Young. Paolo Ceretti from IFIL then took the responsibility as CEO, and Maurizio Olivotto took the position of CTO.
The original project was a mix of editorial content and e-commerce based on the potential synergies between the companies of the FIAT Group (La Stampa, Alpitour, Ferrari, etc.). In 2000, CiaoWeb became the sponsor of the football team Juventus
CiaoWeb did not survive the new economy crisis in 2001, and was sold to the Hachette-Rusconi Interactif group, later on sold to Hearst.