# Neopets

> Neopets grew through player referrals before Viacom bought the pet site for $160 million.

- Owner: World of Neopia, Inc.; created by Adam Powell and Donna Williams
- Kind: Game
- Sector: Gaming
- Seed date: 1999-11-15
- Milestone date: 2005-06-20
- Date basis: Documented milestone; not a measured attention peak.
- Spread Score: 54 (Notable, provisional), v1.2
- Mechanics: Daily ritual, Platform jump, Fandom mobilisation, Controversy

## Summary

Neopets spread through player referrals, then toys and trading cards. Viacom bought it for $160 million, this case's commercial peak anchor. After decline and an NFT boycott, independent owners restored games and reported renewed user growth.

## Timeline

- 1999-11-15 — Adam Powell and Donna Williams (Open web) — Adam Powell and Donna Williams launched Neopets, a website for adopting and caring for virtual pets.
- Jan 2000 — Doug Dohring (Open web) — Doug Dohring and his management team bought Neopets after its traffic grew through pet newsgroups.
- 2000-11-13 — Neopets (Open web) — Neopets reported 4,026,177 registered accounts after its four-millionth signup over the weekend.

The full timeline, metrics and sources are on the case page, or via the Pro API (https://howitspread.com/developers).

Canonical URL: https://howitspread.com/cases/neopets

Cite as: How It Spread (2026). “Neopets.” Case HIS-01327. Spread Score v1.2: 54/100. Updated 2026-10-22. https://howitspread.com/id/HIS-01327