Yahoo

History

Yahoo was founded in January 1994 by Stanford graduate students Jerry Yang and David Filo. Originally a manually curated web directory called “Jerry and David’s Guide to the World Wide Web,” it was renamed Yahoo! (backronym for “Yet Another Hierarchically Organized Oracle”) in March 1994. The company incorporated in March 1995 and went public in April 1996, experiencing rapid growth during the dot-com bubble. Major acquisitions included RocketMail (which became Yahoo Mail) in 1997. In the 2000s, Yahoo faced increasing competition from Google and social media platforms, leading to a gradual decline. After several leadership changes, including Marissa Mayer as CEO from 2012 to 2017, Verizon acquired Yahoo’s core internet business in 2017. The remaining assets (stakes in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan) were spun off into Altaba. Verizon merged Yahoo with AOL to form Oath Inc., later Verizon Media. In 2021, Verizon sold a 90% stake to Apollo Global Management for $5 billion, retaining 10%.

Business Model and Products

Yahoo’s revenue is predominantly advertising-based, with approximately $7.4 billion reported in 2020. Its advertising platform, Yahoo Ad Tech (formerly Yahoo Native), provides omnichannel solutions leveraging first-party data. Key consumer products include Yahoo Mail (one of the world’s largest email services), Yahoo Finance (a leading financial news and data platform), Yahoo Sports, Yahoo News, Yahoo Entertainment, and Yahoo Life. The company also operates Yahoo Search (powered by Bing), Yahoo Calendar, Yahoo Address Book, My Yahoo, and other utilities.

Market Position and Ownership

Despite losing its early dominance, Yahoo still attracts hundreds of millions of monthly users globally, particularly through its finance, sports, and mail properties. It is now operated by Yahoo! Inc., 90% owned by Apollo Global Management and 10% by Verizon. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, the company remains a significant player in digital media and advertising. Current CEO Jim Lanzone leads a management team focused on leveraging Yahoo’s iconic brands and data-driven advertising.

Recent Strategy and Partnerships

In recent years, Yahoo has focused on creating content hubs in partnership with publishers, covering areas like media and advertising, AI, crypto, small business, and sports business. For example, Yahoo Finance expanded its media and advertising coverage in partnership with leading publishers, and Yahoo Sports launched a sports business hub. The company has also undergone significant cost-cutting and restructuring, with employee headcount around 8,600 as of 2017.