First Class - Company History

Company History

In 1999 the company arranged a reverse takeover by a company from Vancouver to become listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange as Centrinity. In September 2002 Open Text bought Centrinity, for a reported C$1.26 per share or C$19 million. Open Text was developing a suite of online collaboration products through a series of mergers, and FirstClass's educational background seemed to fit particularly well with some of their other offerings. At the time Open Text stated their intention to integrate FirstClass into the "LiveLink" internet information collection engine, but this integration has not yet happened and is rumored to be not practical due to the architecture of LiveLink.

As of March 31, 2010, the original founders of the FirstClass product and company (Steve Asbury, Jon Asbury, and Scott Welch) and two longtime employees (John Myers and Barry Carter) are no longer employed by OpenText, the only reason given was a difference of opinions in the future direction of the FirstClass product and other derivative products. They have since developed Edsby, an innovative product that blends social media and classroom management tools.

The next year would see many other key team members voluntarily move on to new challenges. Among those departing were the UX designers behind FirstClass' rebirth as Open Text Social Media: one for Research In Motion, the other to start his own company.In June and August 2011, there were two more rounds of layoffs. Long-time employees Paul Whittemore, Desmond Ong, and Julie Oke, along with several others, asked to be included. Senior managers Terry Whyte and Dave Wormald left over the course of the summer.