Ice.com
Ice.com is an online jewelry retailer based in Montreal, Quebec. The company was founded by brothers Shmuel, Mayer and Pinny Gniwisch, and brother-in-law Moshe Krasnanski, as BuyJewels.com.
The company's focus is on affordable fashion jewelry, as opposed to the high-end jewelry market that is the focus of Diamond.com and Blue Nile Inc. This strategy lends itself to frequent impulse purchases, rather than larger one-time purchases.
At the height of The Dot-com bubble the company received a substantial investment from Idealab's Bill Gross and was transformed into Ice.com. The relationship with Idealab dissolved shortly thereafter and the brothers took Ice.com back to Montreal, [...] their headcount to 15 and drastically reducing business expenses.
Since their return to Montreal, Ice.com has grown rapidly, breaking even in 2001. They currently have an estimated employee count of 100.
They acquired Diamond.com in fall 2006 from Odimo Inc, for $9.5 million, of which $7.5 million was for the domain name, copyright and other intangibles, and the remainder for inventory and packaging. Operating separately from Ice.com, Diamond.com specializes in diamond engagement rings, and allows customers to design their own ring from certified loose diamonds.
Ice.com has made television appearances on The View in January, March and October 2007, as well as on the Valentine's Day 2007 episode of Dr. Phil where Thomas Cassels presented his girlfriend Caryle Womack with a $20,000 custom-made diamond engagement ring from Diamond.com.