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The epic rise and fall of Fab.com is finally complete

The epic rise and fall of Fab.com is finally complete

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The fast-rising startup burned through hundreds of millions in funding before its crash

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A few years ago, the flash sales site Fab.com was the hottest startup in New York. As it grew like mad, CEO Jason Goldberg talked about taking on titans like Target and Ikea. The company had 750 employees and more than $330 million in funding at its peak. But just as quickly, that all fell apart. The company burned through most of its funding and laid off the majority of its employees. Today, it was officially purchased by PCH International, which plans to use Fab as a sales channel for the hardware products it designs and manufactures.

As we reported back in November of 2013, this was not the first time Goldberg had rapidly scaled a company, piled on funding, and then had the whole thing implode. That story played out with Jobster, his first big startup, which was sold for pennies on the dollar. Fab is reportedly going the same way, selling to PCH for around $15 million. About 35 employees will join PCH and stay on to run Fab.

Goldberg has decamped to Berlin, where he is focused full time on Hem.com, a furniture company that designs and sells its own merchandise. He reportedly has about 100 former Fab employees working with him at Hem, and tens of millions in funding from Fab that his backers have agreed to funnel into this new venture instead.

Ever the optimist, Goldberg celebrated the purchase with a blog post. "It’s personally very satisfying to see Fab land in a great place with PCH. PCH is known for its world-class operations and its deep appreciation for brand, design, and the customer experience. PCH is the perfect home for Fab." Many of Fab's former investors and employees, understandably, have a far less rosy view of the final outcome.