They couldn't spell hemorrhage but they sure knew how to do it.

"In an e-mail dated March 16, 2000, Idealab President Marcia Goodstein told Gross 'we are running out of cash. At your current deal rate, we're not running, we're hemmorrhage [sic], I can't even think of words strong enough to express how fast we are going broke.'

That e-mail came at a time when Idealab still looked like a success, at least to outsiders. It had just raised $1 billion from private investors. The following month, the firm filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission to sell stock to the public. Idealab ultimately shelved that plan after the stock market collapsed. "