Yahoo History Timeline and Biographies | History Timeline Generator

1994

Founding of Yahoo

Yahoo was founded by Jerry Yang and David Filo in January 1994 while they were Electrical Engineering graduate students at Stanford University. Initially, it was a directory of other websites, named "Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web."

1995

Yahoo Incorporated

Yahoo was incorporated on March 2, 1995. The company raised $33.8 million in its IPO (Initial Public Offering) in April 1996, marking its transition from a directory to a global Internet service provider.

1996

Yahoo Goes Public

Yahoo went public on April 12, 1996, with an initial stock price of $13 per share. The IPO was a significant success, and Yahoo's stock price doubled on the first day of trading.

1997

Yahoo Mail Launched

Yahoo Mail, a free email service, was launched in October 1997. It quickly became one of the most popular email services on the Internet.

1998

Yahoo Acquires GeoCities

In January 1999, Yahoo acquired GeoCities, a popular web hosting service, for $3.6 billion in stock. This acquisition significantly expanded Yahoo's user base and content offerings.

1999

Yahoo Messenger Launched

Yahoo introduced Yahoo Messenger, an instant messaging service, in March 1999. It became one of the leading messaging platforms of its time.

2000

Yahoo Directory Peak

By the year 2000, Yahoo's directory service had reached its peak, listing millions of websites and becoming a primary navigation tool for Internet users.

2003

Yahoo Acquires Overture Services

Yahoo acquired Overture Services, a leader in pay-for-performance search, in July 2003 for $1.63 billion. This acquisition helped Yahoo enhance its search engine capabilities and advertising platform.

2005

Yahoo Acquires Flickr

Yahoo acquired Flickr, a popular photo-sharing website, in March 2005. This move was part of Yahoo's strategy to expand its social media and user-generated content offerings.

2008

Microsoft's Acquisition Attempt

In February 2008, Microsoft made an unsolicited bid to acquire Yahoo for $44.6 billion, which Yahoo's board of directors ultimately rejected, believing the offer undervalued the company.

2009

Yahoo and Microsoft Search Alliance

Yahoo and Microsoft entered into a search partnership in July 2009, known as the "Search Alliance," where Microsoft's Bing would power Yahoo's search engine while Yahoo would handle premium search advertisers for both companies.

2013

Yahoo Acquires Tumblr

Yahoo acquired the popular blogging platform Tumblr in June 2013 for approximately $1.1 billion. This acquisition was aimed at revitalizing Yahoo's brand and attracting a younger audience.

2016

Verizon Acquires Yahoo

In July 2016, Verizon Communications announced its acquisition of Yahoo's core internet operations for $4.83 billion. The acquisition was completed in June 2017, and Yahoo was merged with AOL to form a new subsidiary called Oath Inc.

2017

Yahoo Data Breach Settlement

Yahoo agreed to pay $50 million in damages and provide two years of free credit monitoring to around 200 million people affected by data breaches that occurred in 2013 and 2014, which exposed billions of user accounts.

2021

Apollo Global Management Acquires Yahoo

In May 2021, Verizon announced the sale of Yahoo and other media assets to Apollo Global Management for $5 billion. The transaction was completed in September 2021, marking a new chapter for Yahoo as a standalone company under Apollo's ownership.