The story
The company was founded by William J. Rouhana in 1993 as a reseller of long-distance service. After winning auctions for radio spectrum, the firm became a Competitive Local Exchange Carrier and began selling wireless broadband service.
In 1994, Winstar completed an initial public offering, listing its stock on Nasdaq under the symbol "WCII". In the mid-1990s, Winstar acquired Fox Lorber Home Video.
Winstar stock soared by over 600% between 1996 and 2000 as revenue grew from $2.7 million in 1995 to over $445 million in 1999. The company also received positive research reports from analysts, such as Jack Grubman, contributing to the Global settlement.
Bankruptcy
Despite its growth, Winstar was unable to generate enough sales to cover debts from massive capital expenditures required to build out its infrastructure. Among its creditors were a number of banks and high yield bond investors as well as other large telecommunications players, including Lucent that had offered the company significant vendor financing.
Winstar filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April 2001. The company previously laid off nearly half its work force the same month. The Chapter 11 (reorganization) cases were converted into Chapter 7 (liquidation) cases on January 24, 2002.
Private investment company Oak Point Partners acquired the remnant assets, consisting of any known and unknown assets that weren't previously administered, from the Winstar Communications, Inc., et al., Bankruptcy Estates on January 19, 2011.
From Wikipedia’s article on Winstar Communications, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4