Inside Yahoo`s Identity Crisis - Yahoo Timeline (
Page 9 of 10 )
Yahoo Timeline
1994
Yahoo Web directory
created by Jerry Yang
and David Filo, two
Stanford University
PhD candidates,
working on it in their
spare time.
1995
Yahoo Inc. formed with
Tim Koogle as CEO and
the cofounders in more
informal leadership
roles—Yang the company
evangelist and Filo
the hardcore techie.
1996
Yahoo initial public
offering. Stock rises
270 percent to $33 on
first day of trading.
Yahoo outsources
keyword search to
AltaVista.
1998
Yahoo acquires
Internet direct
marketer Yoyodyne
Entertainment.
1999
Yahoo acquires
GeoCities and
Broadcast.com.
2000
Yahoo shares hit an
all-time high of $475
(adjusting for stock
splits, about four
times the stock's current
level).
Yahoo outsources
keyword search to
Google.
2001
The dot-com bubble
bursts, sending Yahoo
shares to an all-time
low of $8.11. Terry
Semel takes over
as Yahoo CEO and
begins the process
of rebuilding the
company and forging
new relationships with
2002 advertisers.
At year-end, Yahoo
announces acquisition
of Inktomi
search engine.
2003
Yahoo acquires
Overture, which
pioneered the paid
search marketing
model from which
Google now profits.
2004
Google goes public,
revealing just how
lucrative search
advertising can be.
Yahoo replaces Google
search with its own
search engine, forms
Yahoo Research arm
to develop new technologies.
2005
Yahoo celebrates 10-
year anniversary.
Acquires Flickr (photo
sharing), Upcoming
(social event calendar),
Del.icio.us
(bookmark sharing)
and MusicMatch
(music sharing).
2006
Yahoo says Project
Panama, a new search
advertising platform,
will be delivered in
Q3—and incurs Wall
Street's wrath when it
delays launch until Q4.
Yahoo reorganizes into
three major operating
groups: Advertiser &
Publisher, Audience
and Technology.
2007
Terry Semel resigns as
CEO and is replaced
by cofounder
Jerry Yang.
Former CFO Sue
Decker, who had been
running the Advertiser
& Publisher group, is
named president.
Next Page: Return of the CEO
Projects: Web Application Development 
