Geeknet

Geeknet, Inc. is a Fairfax County, Virginia-based company that owns the online retailer ThinkGeek. Formerly known as VA Research, VA Linux Systems, VA Software, and SourceForge, Inc., it was founded in 1993. It was formerly headquartered in Mountain View, California.

History

VA Research

VA Research was founded in November 1993 by Stanford graduate student Larry Augustin and James Vera. Augustin was a Stanford colleague of Jerry Yang and David Filo, the founders of Yahoo!. VA Research built and sold personal computer systems with the Linux operating system installed, as an alternative to more expensive Unix workstations available at the time. At the time they started operations, they were one of the first computer vendors to offer Linux as a pre-installed operating system. During its initial years of operation, the business was profitable and grew quickly, with over $100 million in sales and a 10-percent profit margin in 1998. It was the largest vendor of pre-installed Linux computers, having approximately 20 percent of the Linux hardware market.