| Type: | Humor, film website |
| Atom.com | |
| Parent: | Paramount Media Networks (Paramount Global) |
| Buyout: | 10 August 2006--> |
| Foundation: | 1998 |
| Founder: | Mika Salmi |
| Defunct: | 2012 |
| Successor: | CC Studios |
| Location: | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Industry: | Online video entertainment, film |
Atom.com (formerly AtomFilms) was a broadband entertainment network offering original short subject movies, animations, and series by independent creators.[1] [2] [3] The company was founded in 1998 in Seattle by Mika Salmi.[4] Sequoia Capital, led by Michael Moritz, was the lead investor in Atom Films.[5] [6]
Atom Films was the first online video platform for Oscar winners Jason Reitman,[7] [8] Aardman Animations,[9] [10] and David Lynch.[11] It was the first site to work with a major intellectual property rights owner to allow derivative works by the general public when it created a partnership with George Lucas and LucasFilm for The Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards in November 2000.[12] [13]
On August 10, 2006, Atom Entertainment was bought by MTV Networks (now called Paramount Media Networks) with all its properties, including AtomFilms, Addicting Games, Addicting Clips (renamed AtomUploads) and Shockwave.com.[14] The buyout occurred shortly after negotiations against and subsequently with Google to purchase YouTube. In 2012, Atom.com was absorbed into Comedy Central, and was renamed CC Studios.