Yahoo
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
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Sections to complete：02 · 05
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Yahoo was an American web pioneer founded by Stanford graduate students Jerry Yang and David Filo in January 1994 (incorporated March 1995). It grew into one of the world's most visited web portals — search, mail, news, finance, sports — peaking at a $125 billion valuation in 2000. After a long decline it sold its internet business to Verizon for $4.48 billion in 2017; Verizon later sold a majority stake to Apollo Global Management for about $5 billion in 2021, restoring the Yahoo name.
02 / FAILURE REASONS
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03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Founded
Jerry Yang and David Filo launched Yahoo as a catalog of websites; incorporated in March 1995 and went public in 1996.
- Dot-com peak
Yahoo hit its highest valuation, about $125 billion, at the height of the dot-com boom.
- Microsoft bid rejected
Yahoo turned down a $44.6 billion acquisition offer from Microsoft.
- Verizon acquisition
Verizon acquired Yahoo's internet business for $4.48 billion; the assets were combined with AOL under Oath (later Verizon Media).
- Apollo buyout
Verizon sold a majority stake in Verizon Media to Apollo Global Management for about $5 billion; the company was renamed Yahoo again.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
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Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN / AFTERMATH
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