Guide Note

Incorporated and founded in Sunnyvale, California, Yahoo! is an internet service company providing such products as: news, e-mail, a directory, and a web portal. Yahoo was founded by current CEO, Jerry Yang and David Filo while the two were studying as graduate students at Stanford University. Prior to the advent of competing search engine Google, Yahoo! was the Web's most popular search engine. The Silicon Alley Insider reported in early October of 2008 that the company may be forced to layoff as many as 3,500 employees due to losses in the online ad market.¹

Fast Facts

Ticker: YHOO (NASDAQ)
Incorporated in 1995
Headquartered: Sunnyvale, California
CEO: Jerry Yang
Sequoia Capital funded
Founders: Jerry Yang and David Filo
Rejected purchase offer by Microsoft for $44.6 billion
In 2000, used Google as default search engine

Early On

The idea of the company was born when Yang started a web page with a listing of his favorite links. By the end of 1994, the website was renamed to "Yahoo!" based on the Jonathan Swift story, Gulliver's Travels. That same year, the company received 1 million unique visitors. A year later, on March 1, 1995, Yahoo! went public.

Yahoo from 2000-2008

At the height of the late 1990s, early 2000 tech bubble, Yahoo was trading in excess of $400 a share. It was also the only company to reach ¥100,000,000 in Japan at the time. In September 2001, Yahoo! stock had plummeted to an all-time low of approximately $4.00 a share. Since then the company has responded to heavy competition with Google by diversifying its product base, cutting internal costs, and making strategic partnerships (i.e. Verizon in 2005).

Potential Microsoft Acquisition

On February 1, 2008, Microsoft made an offer to purchase Yahoo! for $44.6 billion. However, this offer was declined by the company because the board felt that the offer was too low.

Categories

Technology | Internet | Business and Finance | Companies | Tech Companies | Search Engines

View Note History

Yahoo!

The Mahalo Top 7

Official Site: Yahoo! | Careers | Corporate Information | Contact | Press Room | Investor Relations
Yahoo! Mail
Everything Yahoo!
Wikipedia: Yahoo!
Blog Post: "Essential Yahoo! Shortcuts" (September 13, 2006)
Bloomberg: Yahoo Holders Re-Elect Board; Yang Gets 85% of Votes (August 1, 2008)
Yahoo! Search Blog

Yahoo! Financial Info

Yahoo! Finance: Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO)
Google Finance: Yahoo!
The New York Times: Yahoo! Inc.
Funding Universe: Yahoo!
Hoovers.com: Yahoo!
Blogging Stocks: Yahoo!

Yahoo! Recent News

Silicon Alley Insider: Yes, Yahoo Cuts Coming. How Many? (October 2, 2008)
BBC News: Yahoo Rejects New Break-Up Offer (July 13, 2008)
BusinessWeek: Bidding Yahoo Adieu (June 20, 2008)
CNET News: Yahoo Opens Address Book Interface (June 4, 2008)
BBC News: Microsoft Exit Hits Yahoo Shares (May 5, 2008)
TechCrunch: Yahoo's Black Monday Begins With Shares Down 20 Percent (May 5, 2008)
paidContent.org: Yahoo Trading Down; Still Wondering If Earnings Will Force ... (April 23, 2008)

Yahoo! Acquisition News

Mercury News: Yahoo's Board Re-Elected, But A New Drama Arises (August 2, 2008)
Sydney Morning Herald: Yahoo! Board to Stay (August 3, 2008)
The New York Times: News Corp. May Join Yahoo Bid With Microsoft (April 10, 2008)
paidContent.org: Google-Yahoo-Microsoft: Analysts React To The Latest Twists (April 10, 2008)
Silicon Alley Insider: The Yahoo Body Count: Who's Gone So Far (February 18, 2008)
ReadWriteWeb: What's Next for Microsoft and Yahoo! (June 12, 2008)
TechCrunch: Yahoo Announces Non-Exclusive Search Agreement With Google (June 12, 2008)
Microsoft.com: Microsoft Withdraws Proposal to Acquire Yahoo! (May 3, 2008)
CNN Money: Report: News Corp, Yahoo Discuss Joining Forces (February 13, 2008)
Computerworld UK: Official: Yahoo rejects Microsoft bid (February 11, 2008)
PaidContent.org: Yahoo Considering Combo With AOL? (February 10, 2008)
TechCrunch: Decision Time For Yahoo (February 6, 2008)
Techworld.com: Ballmer Dismisses Anti-Competitive Accusations (February 4, 2008)
Reuters: Yahoo deal could pry ad market from Google's grip (February 2, 2008)
SFGate.com: Microsoft makes unsolicited $44.6 billion bid to buy Yahoo (February 1, 2008)
San Jose Mercury News: Microsoft makes unexpected 44.6B offer for Yahoo (February 1, 2008)
Bloomberg.com: Microsoft Offers to Buy Yahoo for $44.6 Billion (February 1, 2008)

Yahoo! Sites and Services

Shopping

Entertainment

Services

Downloads

Affiliates and Acquistions

Yahoo! Blogs and Message Boards

Yahoo! Search Blog | Yahoo! Widgets Blog | Yahoo! Buzz Log
Slashdot: Yahoo!
Technorati: Yahoo!
Mashable: Yahoo Math: $800 Million > $12 Billion (June 12, 2008)
TechCrunch: Somebody Greased The Lobbyists: Congress Notices Google/Yahoo Deal (April 10, 2008)
TechCrunch: Yahoo Embraces The Semantic Web - Expect The Internet To Organize Itself In A Hurry (March 13, 2008)
Webware: Ballmer: Yahoo brand will live (February 7, 2008)
Download Squad: Yahoo! now offering "unlimited" web hosting (February 6, 2008)
Engadget: Yahoo! Music Unlimited shuttered -- customers feel the Rhapsody (February 4, 2008)
Webware: Yang e-mail reaches out to Yahoo employees (February 4, 2008)
Boing Boing: "Yahoo! Aided China in Torture..." (April 19, 2007)
Micro Persuasion: "Essential Yahoo! Shortcuts" (September 13, 2006)

Yahoo! Books

Yahoo! Hacks by Paul Bausch
Starting a Yahoo! Business For Dummies by Rob Snell
Yahoo! for Dummies by Brad Hill
Inside Yahoo! Reinvention and the Road Ahead by Karen Angel

Related Searches

Jerry Yang | Microsoft | Yahoo Mail | Google | Ask.com | Flickr | Del.icio.us | Hotmail | Gmail | OpenID | How to SEO Your Website | Misr Digital | Yahoo! Layoffs | Microsoft Yahoo | Yahoo Shine | How to Use Mahalo-Enhanced Yahoo! Search | SearchMonkey | TechCrunch50 | Yahoo Fire Eagle | How to Google a Person