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{{redirect|Yahoo}}
{{redirect|Yahoo}}
{{Infobox_Company |
company_name = Yahoo! Inc.|
company_logo = [[Image:Yahoo Logo.svg|200px]] |
company_type = [[Public company|Public]] ({{nasdaq|YHOO}}) |
foundation = [[Santa Clara, California|Santa Clara]], [[California]]<br />(March 1, 1995)
|location_city = 701 First Avenue<br />[[Sunnyvale, California|Sunnyvale]], [[California]]|
location_country = USA |
industry = [[Internet]], [[computer software]]|
area served = {{flagicon|Earth}} Worldwide
key_people = [[Roy J. Bostock]], [[Chairman]]<br />[[Jerry Yang (entrepreneur)|Jerry Yang]], Co-founder, [[Chief Executive Officer|CEO]]<br />[[David Filo]], Co-founder<br />[[Susan Decker]], [[President]] |
num_employees = 14,300 (2008)<ref name=YahooFAQ>{{cite web |url=http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/faq.cfm |title=Yahoo! Inc. - Frequently Asked Questions |publisher=''Yahoo''|accessdate=2008-10-22}}</ref> |
products = (See list of [[#Products and services|Yahoo! products]])|
revenue = {{profit}}$7.22 billion [[United States dollar|USD]] (2008)<ref>{{citeweb|title=Yahoo! Inc: Company Report|url=http://moneycentral.msn.com/companyreport?Symbol=YHOO|publisher=''[[MSN]]''|accessdate=2008-02-17}}</ref>|
operating_income = {{profit}}$1.03 billion [[United States dollar|USD]] (2008)<ref>{{citeweb|title=Key Statistics|url=http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=YHOO|publisher=''Yahoo''|accessdate=2008-02-17}}</ref> |
slogan = "''Do you Yahoo?''"|
homepage = [http://www.yahoo.com/ www.yahoo.com]
}}'''Yahoo! Inc. ''' ({{nasdaq|YHOO}}) is a [[International|Worldwide]] [[United States|American]] [[public company|public]] [[corporation]] with headquarters in [[Sunnyvale, California]], (in [[Silicon Valley]]), and provides [[Internet]] services worldwide. The company is perhaps best known for its [[web portal]], [[web search engine|search engine]], [[Yahoo! Directory]], [[Yahoo! Mail]], news, and [[social media]] [[websites]] and services. Yahoo! was founded by [[Jerry Yang (entrepreneur)|Jerry Yang]] and [[David Filo]] in January 1994 and was incorporated on March 1, 1995.

According to Web traffic analysis companies (including [[Compete.com]], [[comScore]],<ref>{{citeweb|title=Fox Interactive Media Ranks #1 in Page Views; Yahoo! Sites Attract the Most Unique Visitors|url=http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1152|publisher=''[[comScore]]''|accessdate=2008-02-12}}</ref> [[Alexa Internet]],<ref name="alexa">{{citeweb|title=Traffic History Graph for yahoo.com|url=http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/yahoo.com|publisher=''[[Alexa Internet]]''|accessdate=2008-02-06}}</ref> [[Netcraft]],<ref name="netcraft">{{citeweb|title=Current Web Traffic stats for Yahoo|url=http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://www.yahoo.com|publisher=''[[Netcraft]]''|accessdate=2008-08-16}}</ref> and [[Nielsen Ratings]]<ref>{{citeweb|title=Successful Sites Drive High Visitor Retention Rates|url=http://www.nielsen-netratings.com/pr/pr_060511.pdf|publisher=''[[Nielsen Ratings]]''|accessdate=2008-02-12}}</ref>), the domain ''yahoo.com'' attracted at least 1.575 billion visitors annually by 2008 according to a [[Compete.com]] study.<ref>{{citeweb|url=http://siteanalytics.compete.com/yahoo.com/?metric=uv|title=Snapshot of yahoo.com|publisher=''[[Compete.com]]''|accessdate=2008-11-08}}</ref> The global network of Yahoo! websites receives 3.4 billion page views per day on average [[As of 2007|as of October 2007]]. It is the second most visited website in the [[U.S.]], and the most visited website in the world.<ref name="alexa"/>

==History and growth==
===Early history (1994&ndash;1996)===

[[Image:Jerry Yang and David Filo.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Yahoo! co-founders [[Jerry Yang (entrepreneur)|Jerry Yang]] (left) and [[David Filo]] (right)]]

In January 1994, [[Jerry Yang (entrepreneur)|Jerry Yang]] and [[David Filo]] were Electrical Engineering graduate students at [[Stanford University]]
In April 1994, "Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web" was renamed "Yahoo!", for which the official expansion is "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle". Filo and Yang said they selected the name because they liked the word's general definition, which comes from ''[[Gulliver's Travels]]'' by [[Jonathan Swift]]: "rude, unsophisticated, uncouth." Its [[Uniform Resource Locator|URL]] was akebono.stanford.edu/yahoo.<ref>{{citeweb|title=The History of Yahoo! - How It All Started...|url=http://docs.yahoo.com/info/misc/history.html|publisher=''Yahoo''|accessdate=2008-02-22}}</ref>

By the end of 1994, Yahoo! had already received one million hits. The Yahoo! domain was created on January 18, 1995.<ref>{{citeweb|title=WHOIS information for: yahoo.com:|url=http://whois.net/whois_new.cgi?d=yahoo&tld=com|publisher=''whois.net''|accessdate=2008-11-08}}</ref> Yang and Filo realized their website had massive business potential, and on March 1, 1995, Yahoo! was [[Incorporation (business)|incorporated]].<ref>{{citeweb|title=Inventing Yahoo!|url=http://www.americanheritage.com/events/articles/web/20060412-yahoo-internet-search-engine-jerry-yang-david-filo-america-online-google-ipo-email.shtml|publisher=''[[American Heritage (magazine)]]''|accessdate=2008-02-22}}</ref> On April 5, 1995, [[Michael Moritz]] of [[Sequoia Capital]] provided Yahoo! with two rounds of venture capital, raising approximately $3 million.<ref>{{citeweb|author=[[Eric Schmidt]]|url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/time100/article/0,28804,1595326_1615737_1616199,00.html|title=The Time 100 - Michael Moritz|publisher=''[[Time (magazine)]]''|accessdate=2008-11-08}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/press/timeline.cfm|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20080213120416/http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/press/timeline.cfm|archivedate=2008-02-13|title=Yahoo Company Timeline|accessdate=2008-08-18}}</ref> On April 12, 1996, Yahoo! had its [[initial public offering]], raising $33.8 million dollars, by selling 2.6 million shares at $13 each.

Like many [[Web search engine|search engine]]s and [[web directory|web directories]], Yahoo! diversified into a [[Web portal]]. In the late 1990s, Yahoo!, [[MSN]], [[Lycos]], [[Excite]] and other Web portals were growing rapidly. Web portal providers rushed to acquire companies to expand their range of services, in the hope of increasing the time a user stays at the portal.

On March 8, 1997, Yahoo! acquired online communications company Four11. Four11's webmail service, [[Rocketmail]], became [[Yahoo! Mail]]. Yahoo! also acquired ClassicGames.com and turned it into [[Yahoo! Games]]. Yahoo! then acquired direct marketing company Yoyodyne Entertainment, Inc. on October 12. On March 8, 1998, Yahoo! launched Yahoo! Pager,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/press/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=173501|title=Stay In Touch With Yahoo! Pager|publisher=''Yahoo''|accessdate=2008-12-08}}</ref> an instant messaging service that was renamed [[Yahoo! Messenger]] a year later. On January 28, 1999, Yahoo! acquired web hosting provider [[GeoCities]]. Another company Yahoo! acquired was [[eGroups]], which became [[Yahoo! Groups]] after the acquisition on June 28, 2000.

When acquiring companies, Yahoo! often changed the relevant [[terms of service]]. For example, they claimed [[intellectual property]] rights for content on their [[Server (computing)|server]]s, unlike the companies they acquired. As a result, many of the [[acquisition]]s were controversial and unpopular with users of the existing services.{{Clarifyme|date=March 2008}}
[[Image:Yahoo Headquarters.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Yahoo! headquarters in Sunnyvale]]

===Dot-com bubble (2000&ndash;2001)===
Yahoo! stock doubled in price in the last month of 1999.<ref>{{citeweb|title=YHOO: Historical Prices for YAHOO INC - Yahoo! Finance|url=http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=YHOO&a=10&b=30&c=1999&d=11&e=31&f=1999&g=d|accessdate=2008-11-02}}</ref> On January 3, 2000, at the height of the [[Dot-com boom]], Yahoo! stocks closed at an all-time high of $118.75 a share. Sixteen days later, shares in [[Yahoo! Japan]] became the first stocks in Japanese history to trade at over ¥100,000,000, reaching a price of ¥101.4 million ($962,140 at that time).<ref>{{citeweb|title=Yahoo Japan Stock Breaks 100 Million Yen Barrier|url=http://www.internetnews.com/ent-news/print.php/289851|publisher=internetnews.com|accessdate=2008-02-22}}</ref>

On February 7, 2000, the Yahoo! domain was brought to a halt for a few hours as it was the victim of a distributed denial of service attack ([[DDoS]]).<ref>{{citeweb|title=Hacker plan: take down the Net|url=http://www.dennismoran.org/media/stacks.msnbc.com/news/376219.html|publisher=dennismoran.org|accessdate=2008-02-22}}</ref><ref>{{citeweb|title=How a basic attack crippled Yahoo|url=http://www.news.com/2100-1023-236621.html?legacy=cnet|publisher=news.com|accessdate=2008-02-23}}</ref> On the next day, its shares rose about $16, or 4.5 percent as the failure was blamed on [[Hacker (computer security)|hackers]] rather than on an internal [[glitch]], unlike a fault with [[eBay]] earlier that year.

During the dot-com boom, the cable news station [[CNBC]] also reported that Yahoo! and [[eBay]] were discussing a 50/50 [[merger]].<ref>{{citeweb|title=Yahoo to Buy EBay?|url=http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2000/03/34967|publisher=wired.com|accessdate=2008-02-24}}</ref> Although the merger never materialized the two companies decided to form a marketing/advertising alliance six years later in 2006.<ref>{{citeweb|title=Yahoo, eBay form Web advertising alliance|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12970936/|publisher=msnbc.com|accessdate=2008-02-24}}</ref>

On June 26, 2000, Yahoo! and [[Google]] signed an agreement which retained Google as the default world-wide-web search engine for Yahoo! following a beta trial in 1999.<ref>{{citeweb|title=GoogleAlert #2: Yahoo! Selects Google as its Default Search Engine Provider|url=http://www.google.com/googlefriends/alert2_2000.html|publisher=google.com|accessdate=2008-02-25}}</ref>

===Post dot-com bubble (2002&ndash;2008)===
Yahoo! was one of the few surviving large Internet companies after the [[dot-com bubble]] burst. Nevertheless, on September 26, 2001, Yahoo! stocks closed at a five-year low of $4.06 (split-adjusted).

Yahoo! formed partnerships with [[telecommunications]] and Internet providers to create content-rich [[broadband]] services to compete with [[AOL]]. On June 3, 2002, [[SBC Communications|SBC]] and Yahoo! launched a national co-branded [[Dial-up access|dial]] service.<ref>{{citeweb|title=Internet Leaders SBC and Yahoo! Launch National Co-Branded Dial Service|url=http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=20046|publisher=att.com|accessdate=2008-02-25}}</ref> In July 2003, [[BT Group|BT]] Openworld announced an alliance with Yahoo!.<ref>{{citeweb|title=Internet alliance BT and Yahoo!|url=http://www.telecom.paper.nl/news/article.aspx?id=30241&nr=806|publisher=telecom.paper.nl|accessdate=2008-02-25}}</ref> On August 23, 2005, Yahoo! and [[Verizon]] launched an integrated [[DSL]] service.<ref>{{citeweb|title=Verizon and Yahoo! Launch Integrated DSL Service Combining Broadband Speed with Premium Content|url=http://newscenter.verizon.com/press-releases/verizon/2005/page.jsp?itemID=29708038|publisher=newscenter.verizon.com|accessdate=2008-02-06}}</ref>

In late 2002, Yahoo! began to bolster its search services by acquiring other search engines. In December 2002, Yahoo! acquired [[Inktomi]]. In February 2005, Yahoo! acquired Konfabulator and rebranded it [[Yahoo! Widgets]],<ref>{{citeweb|title=Konfabulator 2.1: Ajax additions|url=http://ajaxian.com/archives/konfabulator-21-ajax-additions|publisher=ajaxian.com|accessdate=2008-02-25}}</ref> a desktop application and in July 2003, it acquired [[Yahoo! Search Marketing|Overture Services, Inc.]] and its subsidiaries [[AltaVista]] and [[AlltheWeb]]. On February 18, 2004, Yahoo! dropped [[Google]]-powered results and returned to using its own technology to provide search results.

In 2004, in response to [[Google]]'s release of [[Gmail]], Yahoo! upgraded the storage of all free Yahoo! Mail accounts from 4 [[Megabyte|MB]] to 1 GB, and all Yahoo! Mail Plus accounts to 2 GB. On July 9, 2004, Yahoo! acquired e-mail provider [[Oddpost]] to add an [[Ajax (programming)|Ajax]] interface to [[Yahoo! Mail]].<ref>{{citeweb|title=Yahoo acquires Oddpost to bolster e-mail|url=http://www.news.com/2100-1038_3-5266019.html|publisher=news.com|accessdate=2008-02-25}}</ref> On October 13, 2005, Yahoo! and Microsoft announced that [[Yahoo! Messenger]] and [[MSN Messenger]] would become interoperable. In 2007, Yahoo! took out the storage meters, thus allowing users unlimited storage.

Yahoo! continued acquiring companies to expand its range of services, particularly [[Web 2.0]] services. Yahoo! Launchcast became [[Yahoo! Music]] on February 9, 2005. On March 20, 2005, Yahoo! purchased photo sharing service [[Flickr]].<ref>{{citeweb|title=Yahoo actually does acquire Flickr|url=http://blog.flickr.net/en/2005/03/20/yahoo-actually-does-acquire-flickr/|publisher=flickr.com|accessdate=2008-02-25}}</ref> On March 29, 2005, the company launched its blogging and social networking service [[Yahoo! 360°]]. In June 2005, Yahoo! acquired [[blo.gs]], a service based on RSS feed aggregation. Yahoo! then bought online social event calendar [[Upcoming.org]] on October 4, 2005. Yahoo! acquired social bookmark site [[del.icio.us]] on December 9, 2005 and then playlist sharing community [[webjay]] on January 9, 2006.

On August 27, 2007, Yahoo! released a new version of Yahoo! Mail that makes it possible for users to send instant messages to the largest combined instant messaging (IM) community including users of Yahoo! Messenger and Windows Live Messenger, to send free text messages to mobile phones in the [[United States|U.S.]], [[Canada]], [[India]] and the [[Philippines]].<ref>{{citeweb|title=SiliconRepublic:_Yahoo_releases_new_email_service|url=http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single9082|publisher=siliconrepublic.com|accessdate=2008-02-25}}</ref>

On January 29, 2008, Yahoo! announced that the company was laying off 1,000 employees as the company had suffered severely in its inability to effectively compete with industry search leader [[Google]]. The cuts represent 7 percent of the company's workforce of 14,300. Employees are being invited to apply for an unknown number of new positions that are expected to open as the company expands areas that promise faster growth.<ref>{{citeweb|title=Yahoo to lay off 1,000|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/29/BUJ5UOBFI.DTL|publisher=''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]''|accessdate=2008-07-24}}</ref>

In February, 2008, Yahoo! acquired [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]]-based Maven Networks, a supplier of internet video players and video advertising tools, for approx. $160 million.

====Failed acquisition attempt by Microsoft====
[[Microsoft]] and Yahoo! pursued [[merger]] discussions in 2005, 2006, and 2007, that were all ultimately unsuccessful. At the time, analysts were skeptical about the wisdom of a business combination.<ref>{{cite news|publisher=Forbes|accessdate=2008-02-01|title=Microsoft, Yahoo In Possible Partnership Talks|author=Mary Crane|date=May 3, 2006|url=http://www.forbes.com/markets/bonds/2006/05/03/yahoo-microsoft-partnership-0503markets04.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|publisher=Associated Press|title=Microsoft and Yahoo end on-again off-again talks to combine forces|date=May 4, 2007|url=http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/04/business/NA-FIN-COM-US-Microsoft-Yahoo.php|accessdate=2008-02-01}}</ref>

On February 1, 2008, after its friendly takeover offer was rebuffed by Yahoo!, Microsoft made an unsolicited [[takeover]] bid to buy Yahoo! for US$44.6 billion dollars in cash and stock.<ref>{{citeweb|title=Microsoft wants to purchase Yahoo|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7222114.stm|publisher=bbc.co.uk|accessdate=2008-02-25}}</ref><ref name=mstob>{{cite news|title=Microsoft Offers to Buy Yahoo for $44.6 Billion|accessdate=2008-02-01|date=February 1, 2008|url=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aLsamJL6qUQY&refer=news|publisher=Bloomberg}}</ref> Days later, Yahoo! considered alternatives to the merger with Microsoft, including a merger with internet giant [[Google]]<ref>{{cite news | first=Mick | last=Jason | coauthors= | title=Microsoft May Borrow For Yahoo Deal; Yahoo Opts for Google Alliance | date=[[2008-02-06]] | publisher= | url =http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=10586 | work =DailyTech | pages = | accessdate = 2008-02-06 | language = }}</ref> or a potential transaction with [[News Corp]].<ref>{{cite news | first=Peter | last=Kafka | coauthors= | title=Yahoo-News Corp Still Talking, Deal Still Possible | date=[[2008-02-12]] | publisher= | url =http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/2/yahoo__news_corp__deal_still_in_the_works_ | work =AlleyInsider | pages = | accessdate = 2008-03-18 | language = }}</ref> However, on February 11, 2008, Yahoo! decided to reject Microsoft's offer as "substantially undervaluing" Yahoo!'s brand, audience, investments, and growth prospects.<ref name=yhooreject>{{cite news|publisher=Business Wire|accessdate=2008-02-11|title=Yahoo! Board of Directors Says Microsoft's Proposal Substantially Undervalues Yahoo!|date=February 1, 2008|url=http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/press/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=293129}}</ref> As of February 22, two Detroit based pension companies have sued Yahoo! and their board of directors for breaching their duty to shareholders by opposing Microsoft's takeover bid and pursuing "value destructive" third-party deals.<ref name=breach>{{cite news|title= Yahoo sued for spurning Microsoft|accessdate=2008-02-23 | language=en | url=http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080222/yahoo_shareholder_lawsuit.html|publisher=yahoo.com}}</ref>{{Dead link|url=http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080222/yahoo_shareholder_lawsuit.html|date=August 2008}} In early March, Google CEO [[Eric Schmidt]] went on record saying that he was concerned that a potential Microsoft-Yahoo! merger might hurt the Internet by compromising its openness.<ref >{{cite news|title= Microsoft's moves 'threaten net'|accessdate=2008-03-18 | language=en | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7300337.stm}}</ref> The value of Microsoft's cash and stock offer declined with Microsoft's stock price, falling to $42.2 billion by April 4.<ref>{{citeweb|title=Microsoft CEO sets deadline to Yahoo for deal|url=http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssTechMediaTelecomNews/idUSN0543364420080405?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0|publisher=''[[Reuters]]''|accessdate=2008-04-10}}</ref> On April 5, Microsoft CEO [[Steve Ballmer]] sent a letter to Yahoo!’s board of directors stating that if within three weeks they had not accepted the deal, Microsoft would approach shareholders directly in hopes of a electing a new board and moving forward with merger talks.<ref>{{citeweb|title=Microsoft sets deadline for Yahoo bid|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23958838/|publisher=''[[MSNBC]]''|accessdate=2008-04-10}}</ref>{{Dead link|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23958838/|date=August 2008}} In response, Yahoo! stated on April 7 that they were not against a merger, but that they wanted a better offer. In addition, they stated that Microsoft's "aggressive" approach was worsening their relationship and the chances of a "friendly" merger.<ref name="friend">{{citeweb|title=Microsoft-Yahoo fight reaches the turning point|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23992701/|publisher=''[[MSNBC]]''|accessdate=2008-04-10}}</ref> Later the same day, Yahoo! stated that the original $45 billion offer was not acceptable.<ref name="friend"/> Following this, there has been considerable discussion of having [[Time Warner]]'s [[AOL]] and Yahoo! merge, instead of the originally proposed Microsoft deal.<ref>{{citeweb|title=Yahoo brings two titans to the table|url=http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23519656-643,00.html|publisher=theaustralian.news.com.au|accessdate=2008-04-10}}</ref>

On May 3, 2008, Microsoft withdrew their offer. During a meeting between Ballmer and Yang, Microsoft had offered to raise its offer by $5 billion to $33 per share, while Yahoo! demanded $37. One of Ballmer’s lieutenants suggested that Yang would implement a [[Poison pill#Public companies|poison pill]] to make the takeover as difficult as possible, saying "They are going to burn the furniture if we go hostile. They are going to destroy the place."<ref name="msft_withdrawl1">{{citeweb|title=Microsoft Withdraws Proposal to Acquire Yahoo!|url=http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/may08/05-03letter.mspx|publisher=''[[Microsoft]]''|accessdate=2008-05-03}}</ref><ref>{{citeweb|title=Microsoft’s Failed Yahoo Bid Risks Online Growth|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/05/technology/05soft.html?_r=4&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin|publisher=''[[New York Times]]''|accessdate=2008-05-06}}</ref>

Analysts say that Yahoo!’s shares, which closed at $28.67 on May 2, are likely to drop below $25 and perhaps as low as $20 on May 5, which would put significant pressure on Yang to engineer a turnaround of the company. Some suggest that institutional investors would file lawsuits against Yahoo!’s board of directors for not acting in shareholder interest by refusing Microsoft's offer.<ref>{{citeweb|title=A Yahoo Shareholder on What Might Have Been|url=http://www10.nytimes.com/2008/05/05/technology/05miller-WEB.html?_r=5&ref=technology&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin|publisher=''[[New York Times]]''|accessdate=2008-05-31}}</ref><ref>{{citeweb|title=Pressure's now on Yahoo CEO|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/04/MN0B10GOK9.DTL|publisher=''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]''|accessdate=2008-05-31}}</ref>

On May 5, 2008, Microsoft's withdrawal sent Yahoo!’s stock spiraling 13% lower to $23.02 in Monday trading and trimmed about $6 billion off of its market capitalization.<ref>{{citeweb|title=Yahoo Falls After Microsoft Yanks Takeover Bid|url=http://www.smartmoney.com/one-day-wonder/index.cfm?story=20080505-yahoo&afl=yahoo|publisher=''[[SmartMoney]]''|accessdate=2008-05-06}}</ref>

After Microsoft's failed bid to acquire Yahoo!, Microsoft is rumored to be looking at acquiring LiveDoor, a leading Japanese portal and the leading blogging service in Japan, to strengthen its position against Yahoo! Japan.

On June 12, 2008, Yahoo announced that it had ended all talks with Microsoft about purchasing either part of the business (the search advertising business) or all of the company. Talks had taken place the previous weekend (June 8), during which Microsoft allegedly told Yahoo that it was no longer interested in a purchase of the entire company at the price offered earlier -- $33/share. Also on June 12, Yahoo announced a non-exclusive search advertising alliance with Google.<ref>{{cite web|title=Yahoo Ends Talks With Microsoft<nowiki>,</nowiki> Signs Search-Ad Deal with Google|url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121329534659368693.html|publisher=''[[Wall Street Journal]]''|accessdate=2008-06-12}}</ref> Upon this announcement, many executives and senior employees have announced their plans to leave the company as it appears that they have lost confidence in Yahoo's strategies. According to market analysts, these pending departures are also impacting [[Wall Street]]'s perception of the company. <ref>{{cite web | url=http://www10.nytimes.com/2008/06/20/technology/20yahoo.html?_r=5&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin | title="At Yahoo, the Exodus Continues: | author=Helft, Miguel | publisher=NY Times | date=2008-06-20 | accessdate=2008-06-20}}</ref>

On July 7, 2008, Microsoft said it would reconsider proposing another bid for Yahoo if the company's nine directors were ousted at the annual meeting scheduled to be held on August 1, 2008. Microsoft believes it would be able to better negotiate with a new board. <ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.orlandosentinel.com/topic/ | title="Microsoft wants to negotiate with new Yahoo board" | author=Liedtke, Michael | publisher=Associated Press | date=2008-07-07 | accessdate=2008-07-07}}</ref>

Billionaire investor [[Carl Icahn]], calling the current board irrational in its approach to talks with Microsoft, launched a proxy fight to replace Yahoo's board. On July 21, 2008 Yahoo settled with Carl Icahn, agreeing to appoint him and two allies to an expanded board.

==Products and services==
{{main|List of Yahoo-owned sites and services}}
Yahoo! provides a wide array of internet services that cater to most online activities. It operates the web portal http://www.yahoo.com which provides contents including the latest news, Yahoo! Finance gives users quick access to other Yahoo! services like [[Yahoo! Mail]], Yahoo! Maps, [[Yahoo! Groups]] and [[Yahoo! Messenger]]. The majority of the product offerings are available globally in more than 20 languages.

===Diversified services===
{{Disputed|date=May 2008}}
Yahoo! offers diversified services; it provides vertical search services such as Yahoo! Image, Yahoo! Video, Yahoo! Local, Yahoo! News, and Yahoo! Shopping Search. As of August 2007, Yahoo! is the second-most used search engine, after [[Google]]. As of December 11, 2007, [[Google]] and the [[Microsoft]] search engine "store personal information for 18 months" and Yahoo! and [[AOL]] ([[Time Warner]]) "retain search requests for 13 months".<ref>{{cite news|author=Liedtke, Michael|title=Ask.com will purge search info in hours|url=http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071211/BIZ/712110335|work=Journal Gazette|publisher=Fort Wayne Newspapers|date=December 11, 2007|accessdate=2008-08-18}}</ref>

===Communication===
Yahoo! provides internet communication services such as [[Yahoo! Mail]] and [[Yahoo! Messenger]], Yahoo! Mail is the largest e-mail service in the world with almost half the market share.<ref>{{citeweb|title=Yahoo_Tops_Google_In_Mail,_News,_Finance|url=http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2006/05/20/yahoo-tops-google-in-mail-news-finance|publisher=webpronews.com|accessdate=2008-02-17}}</ref> In March, 2007, Yahoo! announced that their email service will offer unlimited storage beginning May 2007.<ref>{{citeweb|title=Yahoo! Mail goes to infinity and beyond|url=http://ycorpblog.com/2007/03/27/yahoo-mail-goes-to-infinity-and-beyond/|publisher=yodel.yahoo.com|accessdate=2008-02-21}}</ref>

Yahoo! Mail premium service MailPlus provides additional functionality including POP/SMTP access to Yahoo! mail accounts, although such functionality is already provided for free by Yahoo! competitor Gmail. Some MailPlus subscribers have reported difficulties in successfully cancelling their Mailplus (automatically renewed and paid by credit card) subscriptions. Although other areas of the Mailplus web interface appear to function correctly, a blank page appears when users select "cancel service" from the list of options to manage the service. It is unknown whether this error has been an accidental oversight by Yahoo! programmers, or a deliberate attempt to retain Mailplus subscription cash flows as long as possible.

Yahoo! also offers social networking services and user-generated content in products such as My Web, [[Yahoo! Personals]], [[Yahoo! 360°]], [[Flickr]] and [[Yahoo! Buzz]].

Yahoo! Photos was shut down on September 20, 2007 in favor of Flickr. On October 16, 2007, Yahoo! announced that they will no longer provide support or perform bug fixes on Yahoo! 360° as they intend to abandon it in early 2008 in favor of a "universal profile" that will be similar to their Mash experimental system.<ref>{{citeweb|title=The Evolution of Yahoo! 360|url=http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-1qCkw2Ehaak.hdNZkEAzDrpa4Q--?cq=1&p=49226|publisher=blog.360.yahoo.com|accessdate=2008-02-22}}</ref>

===Content===
Yahoo! partners with hundreds of premier content providers in products such as [[Yahoo! Sports]], [[Yahoo! Finance]], [[Yahoo! Music]], [[Yahoo! Movies]], [[Yahoo! News]], [[Yahoo! Answers]] and [[Yahoo! Games]] to provide media contents and news. Yahoo! also provides a personalization service, My Yahoo!, which enables users to collect their favorite Yahoo! features, content feeds, and information into a single page.

Yahoo! has developed partnerships with different broadband providers such as [[AT&T]] (via [[BellSouth]] & [[SBC Communications|SBC]]), [[Verizon Communications]], [[Rogers Communications]], [[Axtel]] and [[British Telecom]], offering a range of free and premium Yahoo! content and services to subscribers.

On March 31, 2008 Yahoo! launched web portal http://shine.yahoo.com/ another Yahoo! property dedicated to women between the ages of 25 and 54. Yahoo! called this demographic underserved by current Yahoo! properties. With [[Shine (website)|Shine]] Yahoo! will expand its offerings in parenting, sex and love, healthy living, food, career, money, entertainment, fashion, beauty home life and astrology.

===Mobile===
[[Yahoo! Mobile]] includes services for on-the-go messaging, such as email, instant messaging, and moblogging; information, such as search and alerts; and fun and games, including ringtones, mobile games, and Yahoo! Photos for camera phones. These require software to be installed on the user's device.

===oneSearch===
Yahoo! introduced its Internet search system, called oneSearch, developed for mobile phones on March 20, 2007. The company's officials stated that in distinction from ordinary Web searches, Yahoo!’s new service presents a list of actual information, which may include: news headlines, images from Yahoo!’s Flickr photos site, business listings, local weather and links to other sites. Instead of showing only, for example, popular movies or some critical reviews, oneSearch lists local theaters that at the moment are playing a certain movie, user ratings and news headlines regarding the movie. A zip code or city name is required for Yahoo! oneSearch to start delivering local search results.

The results of a Web search are listed on a single page and are prioritized into categories. The list of results is based on calculations that Yahoo! computers make on certain information the user is seeking.<ref>{{citeweb|title=Yahoo Gets Ahead of Google in the Mobile Search Market|url=http://www.usb4ever.com/yahoo-gets-ahead-of-google-p.html|publisher=2008-02-21}}</ref>

Yahoo! has announced they also plan to adopt [[Novarra]]'s mobile content transcoding service for the [[oneSearch]] platform.<ref>{{cite web|title=Novarra to transcode for Yahoo’s oneSearch|url=http://www.rcrnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070724/SUB/70724007/1012/webcast|publisher=rcrnews.com|accessdate=2008-02-06}}</ref>

===Commerce===
Yahoo! offers commerce services such as [[Yahoo! Shopping]], Yahoo! Autos, [[Yahoo! Real Estate]] and [[Yahoo! Travel]], which enables users to gather relevant information and make commercial transactions and purchases online. Yahoo! Auctions were discontinued in 2007 except for Asia. <ref>{{citeweb|title=Yahoo to close North American auction site|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18578841/|publisher=msnbc.com|accessdate=2008-10-28}}</ref>

===Small business===
Yahoo! provides services such as Yahoo! Domains, Yahoo! Web Hosting, Yahoo! Merchant Solutions, Yahoo! Business Email, and Yahoo! Store to small business owners and professionals allowing them to build their own online stores using Yahoo!’s tools.

Yahoo! also offers HotJobs to help recruiters find the talent they seek.

===Advertising===
[[Yahoo! Search Marketing]] provides services such as Sponsored Search, Local Advertising, and Product/Travel/Directory Submit that let different businesses advertise their products and services on the Yahoo! network.
[[Yahoo! Publisher Network]] is an advertising tool for online publishers to place advertisements relevant to their content to monetize their websites.<ref>{{citeweb|title=Company Overview|url=http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/press/overview.cfm|publisher=shareholder.com|accessdate=2008-02-21}}</ref>

Yahoo! launched its new Internet advertisement sales system on February 5, 2007 called [[Panama (ad system)|Panama]]. It allows [[advertising|advertisers]] to bid for search terms based on their popularity to display their ads on search results pages. The system takes bids, ad quality, [[click-through rate]]s and other factors into consideration in determining how ads are ranked on search results pages. Through Panama, Yahoo! aims to provide more relevant search results to users, a better overall experience, as well as increase monetization -- to earn more from the ads it shows.<ref>{{citeweb|title=New Panama Ranking System For Yahoo Ads Launches Today|url=http://searchengineland.com/070205-090623.php|publisher=searchengineland.com|accessdate=2008-02-21}}</ref>

On April 7, 2008, Yahoo! announced [[Yahoo! AMP!]], an online advertising management platform.<ref>{{citeweb|title=Yahoo! Previews Powerful New Online Advertising Management Platform|url=http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/press/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=303352|publisher=''Yahoo''|accessdate=2008-05-31}}</ref> The platform seeks to simplify advertising sales by unifying buyer and seller markets. The service is scheduled for release in quarter 3 of 2008.

===Yahoo! Next===
[[Yahoo! Next]] is an incubation ground for future Yahoo! technologies currently in their beta testing phase. It contains [[Internet forum|forums]] for Yahoo! users to give feedback to assist in the development of these future Yahoo! technologies.

===Yahoo! BOSS===

Yahoo! Search BOSS is a new service that allows developers to build search applications based on Yahoo!'s search technology.<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/04/AR2008080400733.html Yahoo Boss Is So Open, It Runs on Google's App Engine - washingtonpost.com]</ref> Early Partners in the program include Hakia, Me.dium, [[Daylife]], and Cluuz.<ref>[http://newsbreaks.infotoday.com/nbReader.asp?ArticleId=49963 Yahoo! Expands Its Open Strategy With BOSS]</ref>

==Criticism==
{{main|Criticism of Yahoo!}}
Yahoo! has been criticized for aspects of its business and practices, including [[paid inclusion]], accusations of support of [[adware]] and [[spyware]], and its cooperation with the [[Communist Party of China|Chinese government]] in enforcing [[Internet censorship in the People's Republic of China|internet censorship in mainland China]].

==Revenue model==
About 88% of total revenues for the fiscal year 2006 came from marketing services. The largest segment of it comes from search advertising, where advertisers bid for search terms to display their ads on the search results, on average Yahoo! makes 2.5 cents to 3 cents from each search. With the new search advertising system "Panama" Yahoo! aims to increase revenue generated from search.<ref>{{citeweb|title=A Long-Delayed Ad System Has Yahoo Crossing Its Fingers|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/05/technology/05yahoo.html?ex=1328331600&en=7c66de3983c44830&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss|publisher=nytimes.com|accessdate=2008-02-21}}</ref>

Other forms of advertising which bring in revenue for Yahoo! include display and contextual advertising.

Working with [[comScore]] the ''[[The New York Times]]'' found that Yahoo! is able to collect far more data about Web users than its competitors from its Web sites and its advertising network. By one measure, on average Yahoo! had the potential in December 2007 to build a profile of 2,500 records per month about each of its visitors.<ref>{{cite news|author=Story, Louise and comScore|title=They Know More Than You Think|url=http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2008/03/10/technology/20080310_PRIVACY_GRAPHIC.html|format=JPEG|date=March 10, 2008}} in {{cite news|author=Story, Louise|title=To Aim Ads, Web Is Keeping Closer Eye on You|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/technology/10privacy.html|work=The New York Times|publisher=The New York Times Company|date=March 10, 2008|accessdate=2008-03-09}}</ref>

==Financial data==
{| class="wikitable" border="3" style="text-align:right"
|+ Financial data, US$ million<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.opesc.org/fiche-societe/fiche-societe.php?entreprise=YAHOO|title=Data source |accessdate=2008-03-16 |publisher= OpesC}}</ref>
! Year
! 2003
! 2004
! 2005
! 2006
|-----
|align="left"| [[Sales]]
| 1 625
| 3 574
| 5 258
| 6 426
|-----
|align="left"| [[EBITDA]]
| 453
| 1 000
| 1 505
| 1 066
|-----
|align="left"| [[Net Results]]
| 238
| 840
| 1 896
| 751
|-----
|align="left"| [[Staff]]
| 5 500
| 7 600
| 9 800
| 11 400
|}

==Yahoo! International==

{{Mergefrom|Yahoo!Xtra|Talk:Yahoo!Xtra#Merger proposal|date=December 2007}}
<!-- Image with unknown copyright status removed: [[Image:Yahoo Portals.JPG|right|500px|thumb|Countries with a Yahoo! Portal]] -->
Yahoo! is known across the world with its multi-lingual interface. The site is available in over 20 languages, including English. The official directory for all of the Yahoo! International sites is ''world.yahoo.com''.

Each of the international sites are wholly-owned by Yahoo!, with the exception of Yahoo! Japan<sup>1</sup>, in which it holds a 33% minority stake. Historically, Yahoo! entered into joint venture agreements with Softbank for the major European sites<sup>2</sup> (UK, France, Germany) and well as Korea and Japan. In November 2005, Yahoo! purchased the minority interests that Softbank owned in Europe and Korea.

== Yahoo! logo ==
Yahoo! logos come in many different colors and shapes.<ref name="press" /> The first logo was used when the company was founded in 1995, it was red and it had three icons on each side of it. Even though the official logo is purple,<ref>[http://www.logoorange.com/logodesign-Y.php "Yahoo Logo Design", Logo Design History]</ref> the logo used on the main page ''yahoo.com'' is red with a black outline and shadow. Sometimes the logo is abbreviated with Y!.<ref name="press"> [http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/press/photos_logos.cfm Yahoo Press Room]</ref>

==See also==
*[[Criticism of Yahoo!]]
*[[List of search engines]]
*[[List of acquisitions by Yahoo!]]
*[[Timeline of events for Yahoo!]]
*[[YMSG]] - Yahoo! Messenger Protocol
*[[List of web analytics software]]

==Notes and references==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==

{{Companies portal}}
*[http://www.yahoo.com/ Official website]
*[http://ycorpblog.com/ Yodel Anecdotal corporate blog]
*[http://docs.yahoo.com/info/pr/milestones.html Corporate milestones]
*[http://docs.yahoo.com/info/misc/history.html The History of Yahoo! - How It All Started...]
*[http://www.researchchannel.org/prog/displayevent.aspx?rID=2629&fID=345 Yahoo! Jerry and Dave's Excellent Venture] (Video about the beginnings of Yahoo!)
*[http://web.archive.org/web/19961017235908/http://www2.yahoo.com/ Earliest known Yahoo! website from 1996]

{{Yahoo! Inc.}}
{{IT giants}}
{{NASDAQ-100}}

[[Category:Yahoo!| ]]
[[Category:Companies based in Silicon Valley]]
[[Category:Companies established in 1995]]
[[Category:Global internet community]]
[[Category:Internet companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Internet search engines]]
[[Category:Internet services supporting OpenID]]
[[Category:Web portals]]
[[Category:Web service providers]]
[[Category:Publicly traded companies]]

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{{Internet memes}}

Revision as of 20:24, 13 November 2008

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