blue nile disambiguation . this article has multiple issues . please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages this article relies too much on references to primary sources . please improve this by adding secondary or tertiary sources . november 2011 learn how and when to remove this template message this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . november 2011 learn how and when to remove this template message learn how and when to remove this template message blue nile inc. type public company traded as nasdaq nile industry retail founded 1999 headquarters seattle washington usa key people harvey kanter ceo david binder cfo products diamonds & jewelry revenue us 473 million 2015 1 operating income us 14.2 million 2015 1 net income us 9.7 million 2015 1 total assets us 157.3 million 2015 1 total equity us 13.7 million 2015 1 number of employees 301 january 4 2015 2 website www.bluenile.com blue nile is an online specialty retailer of fine jewelry . blue nile was founded in 1999 and today is the largest online retailer of diamonds . blue nile is based in seattle washington and competes with traditional jewelry stores such as tiffany & co. and online retailer stores such as james allen belgium diamonds . the key feature of being able to search through thousands of diamonds by carat weight cut clarity color and other characteristics is what attracts many customers to the website . 3 contents 1 history 2 operations 3 references 4 external links history edit the company that became blue nile began in 1995 when doug williams of williams & son inc. of seattle started a website to sell diamonds online . 4 mark c. vadon then a management consultant at bain & company purchased a diamond engagement ring from the site in 1998 . 4 in 1999 vadon raised 6 million to purchase 85 % of the company and improve the website . 4 the company s name was changed to blue nile in november 1999 . 5 during the next year the company raised an additional 44 million . 4 investors included bessemer venture partners kleiner perkins caufield & byers . 5 blue nile raised 76 million in its ipo on may 18 2004 . merrill lynch & co. bear stearns cos. and thomas weisel partners llc managed the ipo sharing fees of 5.4 million . 5 the initial public offering of shares in blue nile inc rose 39 % in first day trading closing at 28.40 . on oct 4 2005 blue nile announced the launch of its united kingdom web site following a successful deployment in canada earlier . 6 although the company had 44 million in revenue in 2000 it lost 30 million because it spent 40 million in television advertising . 4 its investors contributed an additional 7 million in 2001 . 4 in 2006 blue nile sold 197 million in engagement rings and wedding bands compared to 186 million for tiffany & co. 7 on nov 8 2011 ceo diane irvine who had been with the company for 12 years and its ceo since 2008 abruptly resigned . 8 irvine was replaced on an interim basis by senior vice president and general manager of international vijay talwar . 9 in march 2012 harvey kanter former ceo of moosejaw was named the new ceo . 10 in 2015 blue nile reported net sales of us 473 million and net income of us 9.7 million . 1 blue nile promotes itself as a supplier of ethically sourced diamonds and endorses a zero tolerance policy towards conflict diamonds . 11 in the summer of 2015 blue nile opened their first webroom at roosevelt field mall on long island n.y. the company plans to open three more webrooms in 2016 at the westchester mall in white plains n.y. at tysons corner center mall in fairfax county va. and at washington square mall outside of portland . 12 operations edit blue nile specializes in educating first time shoppers about diamond quality and making it easy for them to buy engagement rings . 13 diamond rings account for 70 percent of blue nile s sales and other diamond jewelry accounts for an additional 20 percent . 4 blue nile lists more than 150 000 loose diamonds in their online inventory at any given time as well as several hundred settings . they do not own or house their diamonds that are in their inventory but instead utilize the common business practice of drop shipping allowing for the company to purchase the diamond from the supplier when the customer actually purchases it . 14 in 2008 its share of the u.s. engagement ring market rose to 4.5 % from 4 % . the average price of a blue nile ring dropped from 6 200 in 2007 to 6 000 in 2009 but the average carat weight of 0.90 remained constant . in 2006 the site set an online diamond purchase record with the sale of a 1.5 million 10 carat d flawless diamond . in september 2011 blue nile sold a diamond engagement ring that cost more than 300 000 through its iphone app . 15 blue nile has announced plans to broaden the company s base to include more female customers . 16 blue nile has begun to sell products in its brick and mortar stores through a display that they call the webroom that they place in stores such as nordstroms . 17 references edit a b c d e f blue nile inc. financials . blue nile inc. sec filing 10 k . blue nile inc . reuters.com . retrieved 17 may 2016 . a b c d e f g rivlin gary january 7 2007 . when buying a diamond starts with a mouse . the new york times . retrieved january 3 2012 . a b c blue nile ipo raises 76 million . seattle post intelligencer . may 19 2004 . retrieved january 4 2012 . blue nile announces launch of united kingdom web site . barret victoria murphy october 25 2007 . the digital diamond district . forbes . retrieved january 4 2012 . blue nile ceo resigns abruptly ; 3q profit falls brohan mark . blue nile hangs out the help wanted sign for a ceo . internet retailer . retrieved january 3 2012 . blue nile names harvey kanter new ceo jewelersmutual.com http jewelersmutual.com bluenile . retrieved 17 may 2016 . missing or empty title help tu janet . blue nile reports lower sales and profit . seattletimes.com . retrieved 17 may 2016 . briggs bill . teach them well . internet retailer . retrieved january 3 2012 . http www.onlinediamondbuyingadvice.com diamond website reviews blue nile review siwicki bill . customer says i do to a 300 000 mobile transaction . internet retailer . retrieved january 4 2012 . berk christina cheddar . why can t a woman shop more like a man . cnbc . retrieved january 4 2012 . bates rob . interview with blue nile ceo harvey kanter . retrieved july 29 2015 . external links edit blue nile us website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title blue nile company & oldid 737200670 categories companies listed on nasdaqcompanies based in seattleonline retailers of the united statesjewelry retailers of the united states1999 establishments in washington state retail companies established in 1999hidden categories 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