Yahoo! Inc.
Type	Public (NASDAQ: YHOO)
Founded	Santa Clara, California (March 1, 1995)
Headquarters	701 First Avenue Sunnyvale, California, USA
Key people	Roy J. Bostock, Chairman Jerry Yang, Co-founder, CEO and Chief Yahoo David Filo, Co-founder and Chief Yahoo Susan Decker, President
Industry	Internet, computer software
Products	(See list of Yahoo! products)
Revenue	▲$7. A public company usually refers to a company that is permitted to offer its registered securities ( Stock, bonds, etc The NASDAQ (acronym of National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American Stock exchange. Santa Clara California (ˌsæntəˈklærə founded in 1777 and incorporated in 1852 is a city in Santa Clara County, in the U California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. Events 86 BC - Lucius Cornelius Sulla, at the head of a Roman Republic army enters in Athens, removing the Tyrant Year 1995 ( MCMXCV) was a Common year starting on Sunday. Events of 1995 Sunnyvale ( or) is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. Roy J Bostock is the Chairman of the Board for Yahoo! Inc since January 2008 Jerry Yang ( born November 6 1968) is an American entrepreneur and the Co-founder, CEO and Chief Yahoo! of Yahoo! Inc A chief executive officer ( CEO) or chief executive is typically the highest-ranking corporate officer ( executive) or administrator David Filo (born 1966 in Wisconsin) is an American businessman and the co-founder of Yahoo! with Jerry Yang. Susan (Sue Lynne Decker (born 1963 is the President of Yahoo! Inc President is a Title leaders of Organizations companies, Trade unions universities, and countries. For other uses of this term see Industry (disambiguation An industry (from Latin industrius, "diligent industrious" The Internet is a global system of interconnected Computer networks In Marketing, a product is anything that can be offered to a Market that might satisfy a want or need In business revenue or revenues is Income that a company receives from its normal business activities usually from the sale of goods and services 0 billion USD (2007)[1]
Operating income	▲ $730 million USD (2007)[2]
Employees	13,800 (April 22, 2008)
Website	www.yahoo.com

Yahoo! Inc. The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been In financial and business Accounting, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT is a measure of a firm's profitability that excludes interest and income tax expenses The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been Employment is a Contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. A website (alternatively web site or Web site, a back-construction from the Proper noun World Wide Web) is a collection of Web pages (NASDAQ: YHOO) is an American public corporation incorporated and headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, in Silicon Valley and a global Internet services company. The NASDAQ (acronym of National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American Stock exchange. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the A public company usually refers to a company that is permitted to offer its registered securities ( Stock, bonds, etc A corporation is a separate legal entity usually used to conduct business Sunnyvale ( or) is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. For the valley nicknamed "Silicone Valley" see San Fernando Valley. The Internet is a global system of interconnected Computer networks It provides a range of products and services including a Web portal, a search engine, the Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, news, and posting. A web portal is a site that provides a single function via a web page or site The Yahoo! Directory is a Web directory which rivals the Open Directory Project in size Yahoo! Mail is a Web-based email (webmail service from Yahoo!. It was founded by Stanford University graduate students Jerry Yang and David Filo in January of 1994 and incorporated on March 1, 1995. Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly known as Stanford University or simply Stanford, is a private Research university located in Jerry Yang ( born November 6 1968) is an American entrepreneur and the Co-founder, CEO and Chief Yahoo! of Yahoo! Inc David Filo (born 1966 in Wisconsin) is an American businessman and the co-founder of Yahoo! with Jerry Yang. Events 86 BC - Lucius Cornelius Sulla, at the head of a Roman Republic army enters in Athens, removing the Tyrant Year 1995 ( MCMXCV) was a Common year starting on Sunday. Events of 1995

According to Web traffic analysis companies (including Compete.com, comScore,^[3] Alexa Internet,^[4] and Nielsen Ratings),^[5] the domain yahoo. Competecom is a United States Web traffic analysis service that publishes the approximate number of U comScore is an internet Marketing research company that provides marketing data and services to many of the Internet's largest businesses Alexa Internet Inc is a California -based Subsidiary company of Amazon Nielsen Ratings are audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research to determine the Audience size and composition of television com attracted at least 1. 575 billion visitors annually by 2008 according to a Compete.com study. Competecom is a United States Web traffic analysis service that publishes the approximate number of U ^[6] The global network of Yahoo! websites receives 3. 4 billion page views per day on average as of October 2007. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. It is the second most visited website in the U.S., and the most visited website in the world. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the ^[4]

On February 1, 2008, Microsoft made an unsolicited bid to purchase Yahoo! for $31 a share, or $44. Events 1327 - Teenaged Edward III is crowned King of England, but the country is ruled by his mother Queen 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational Computer technology Corporation, which rose to dominate the Home computer 6 billion for all the shares. ^[7] Yahoo!'s board of directors rejected the offer on February 11, calling it too low. Events 660 BC - Traditional founding date of Japan by Emperor Jimmu. ^[8] On May 3, 2008, Microsoft withdrew its offer. Events 1491 - Kongo monarch Nkuwu Nzinga is baptised by Portuguese missionaries adopting the baptismal name of João 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common ^[9][10]

History and growth

Early history (1994-1996)

Yahoo! co-founders Jerry Yang (left) and David Filo (right)

In January 1994, Jerry Yang and David Filo were Electrical Engineering graduate students at Stanford University. Jerry Yang ( born November 6 1968) is an American entrepreneur and the Co-founder, CEO and Chief Yahoo! of Yahoo! Inc David Filo (born 1966 in Wisconsin) is an American businessman and the co-founder of Yahoo! with Jerry Yang. Jerry Yang ( born November 6 1968) is an American entrepreneur and the Co-founder, CEO and Chief Yahoo! of Yahoo! Inc David Filo (born 1966 in Wisconsin) is an American businessman and the co-founder of Yahoo! with Jerry Yang. Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly known as Stanford University or simply Stanford, is a private Research university located in In April 1994, "Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web" was renamed "Yahoo!". 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. Gulliver's Travels (1726 amended 1735 officially Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World in Four Parts Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 " However, a swimming coach of the senior producer of Yahoo! said it was because the senior producer ran around the pool screaming "YAHOO!" Its URL was akebono. Uniform Resource Locator is an URI which also specifies where the identified resource is available and the protocol for retrieving it stanford. edu/yahoo. ^[11]

By the end of 1994, Yahoo! had already received one million hits. Yang and Filo realized their website had massive business potential, and on 1 March 1995, Yahoo! was incorporated. Events 86 BC - Lucius Cornelius Sulla, at the head of a Roman Republic army enters in Athens, removing the Tyrant Year 1995 ( MCMXCV) was a Common year starting on Sunday. Events of 1995 Incorporation (abbreviated Inc in US and Canadian business names is the forming of a new Corporation (a corporation being a legal entity ^[12] On April 5, 1995, Sequoia Capital provided Yahoo! with two rounds of venture capital. Sequoia Capital is a Venture capital firm founded by Don Valentine in 1972 ^[13] On 12 April 1996, Yahoo! had its initial public offering, raising $33. Events 467 - Anthemius is elevated to Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. Year 1996 ( MCMXCVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar) Initial public offering (IPO, also referred to simply as a "public offering" is when a company issues Common stock or shares to the public for the first 8 million dollars, by selling 2. 6 million shares at $13 each.

"Yahoo" had already been trademarked for barbecue sauce (and knives (by EBSCO Industries)). EBSCO Industries is a privately held widely diversified Corporation and the largest subscription agency in the world with headquarters in Birmingham Alabama Therefore, in order to get the trademark, Yang and Filo added the exclamation mark to the name. ^[14]

Growth (1997-1999)

Like many search engines and web directories, Yahoo! diversified into a Web portal. A web directory or link directory is a directory on the World Wide Web. A web portal is a site that provides a single function via a web page or site In the late 1990s, Yahoo!, MSN, Lycos, Excite and other Web portals were growing rapidly. MSN (The M icro' s' oft N etwork is a collection of Internet services provided by Microsoft. Lycos is a search engine and web portal centered around broadband entertainment content See @Home Network for more information about that company For the term referring to an elevation in energy level see Excited state. 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 8 March 1997, Yahoo! acquired online communications company Four11. Events 1618 - Johannes Kepler discovers the third law of planetary motion. Year 1997 ( MCMXCVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1997 Gregorian calendar Four11's webmail service, Rocketmail, became Yahoo! Mail. RocketMail was one of the first major free Webmail services and was a product of Four11. Yahoo! Mail is a Web-based email (webmail service from Yahoo!. Yahoo! also acquired ClassicGames. com and turned it into Yahoo! Games. Yahoo! Games is the section of the Yahoo! Website in which Yahoo! users can play games either with other users or by themselves Yahoo! then acquired direct marketing company Yoyodyne Entertainment, Inc. on 12 October. Events 539 BC - The army of Cyrus the Great of Persia takes Babylon. On 8 March 1998, Yahoo! launched Yahoo! Pager,^[15] an instant messaging service that was renamed Yahoo! Messenger a year later. Events 1618 - Johannes Kepler discovers the third law of planetary motion. Year 1998 ( MCMXCVIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar) Yahoo! Messenger is an Advertisement -supported Instant messaging client and associated protocol provided by Yahoo!. On 28 January 1999, Yahoo! acquired web hosting provider GeoCities. Events 1077 - Walk to Canossa: The Excommunication of Henry IV Holy Roman Emperor is lifted Year 1999 ( MCMXCIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar) Yahoo! GeoCities is a Webhosting service founded by David Bohnett and John Rezner in late 1994 as Beverly Hills Internet (BHI Another company Yahoo! acquired was eGroups, which became Yahoo! Groups after the acquisition on 28 June 2000. eGroupscom was an email list management Web site. The site allowed users to create their own mailing lists and allowed others to sign up for membership on the list Yahoo! Groups operate as both electronic mailing lists and Internet forums Group messages can be posted and read by E-mail or on the Group homepage like a web Events 1098 - Fighters of the First Crusade defeat Kerbogha of Mosul. 2000 ( MM) was a Leap year that started on Saturday of the Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar.

When acquiring companies, Yahoo! often changed the relevant terms of service. Terms of service (often abbreviated as "ToS" are rules by which one must agree to abide by in order to use a service. For example, they claimed intellectual property rights for content on their servers, unlike the companies they acquired. Intellectual property ( IP) is a legal field that refers to creations of the mind such as musical literary and artistic works inventions and symbols names A server is a Computer dedicated to providing one or more services over a computer network typically through a request-response routine As a result, many of the acquisitions were controversial and unpopular with users of the existing services.

Yahoo! headquarters in Sunnyvale

Dot-com bubble (2000-2001)

On January 3, 2000, at the height of the Dot-com boom, Yahoo! stocks closed at an all-time high of $475. Events 1431 - Joan of Arc is handed over to the Bishop Pierre Cauchon. 2000 ( MM) was a Leap year that started on Saturday of the Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. The " dot-com bubble " (or sometimes the " IT bubble " was a speculative bubble covering roughly 1995–2001 (with a climax on March 10 00 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. ( is the Japan affiliate of American Internet company Yahoo!. 4 million ($962,140 at that time). ^[16]

On February 7, 2000, yahoo. Events 457 - Leo I becomes emperor of the Byzantine Empire. 1074 - Battle of Montesarchio in which the Prince 2000 ( MM) was a Leap year that started on Saturday of the Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. com was brought to a halt for a few hours as it was the victim of a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS). ^[17][18] On the next day, its shares rose about $16, or 4. 5 percent as the failure was blamed on hackers rather than on an internal glitch, unlike a fault with eBay earlier that year. A glitch is a short-lived Fault in a system The term is particularly common in the Computing and Electronics industries and in Circuit bending eBay Inc is an American Internet company that manages eBaycom an Online auction and shopping Website in which people and businesses buy and

During the dot-com boom, the cable news station CNBC also reported that Yahoo! and eBay were discussing a 50/50 merger. CNBC (an abbreviation for the " C onsumer N ews and B usiness C hannel" its official name until 1991 is a cable and eBay Inc is an American Internet company that manages eBaycom an Online auction and shopping Website in which people and businesses buy and ^[19] Although the merger never materialized the two companies decided to form a marketing/advertising alliance six years later in 2006. ^[20]

On June 26, 2000, Yahoo! and Google signed an agreement which retained Google as the default world-wide-web search engine for yahoo. Events 363 - Roman Emperor Julian is killed during the retreat from the Sassanid Empire. 2000 ( MM) was a Leap year that started on Saturday of the Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. Google Inc is an American public corporation, earning revenue from advertising related to its Internet search, e-mail, online com following a beta trial in 1999. ^[21]

Post dot-com bubble (2002-2008)

Yahoo! was one of the few surviving large Internet companies after the dot-com bubble burst. The " dot-com bubble " (or sometimes the " IT bubble " was a speculative bubble covering roughly 1995–2001 (with a climax on March 10 Nevertheless, on September 26, 2001, Yahoo! stocks closed at a five-year low of $4. Events 46 BC - Julius Caesar dedicates a Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. 06 (split-adjusted).

Yahoo! formed partnerships with telecommunications and Internet providers to create content-rich broadband services to compete with AOL. The term broadband can have different meanings in different contexts On June 3, 2002, SBC and Yahoo! launched a national co-branded dial service. Events 350 - Roman usurper Nepotianus, of the Constantinian dynasty, proclaims himself Roman Emperor, entering See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. Before proposing a merge request please see Talk and see if the merger you propose has recently been made and Dial-up Internet Access is a form of Internet access via Telephone lines The user's computer or Router uses an attached Modem connected to a ^[22] In July 2003, BT Openworld announced an alliance with Yahoo!. July 2003: January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - BT Group plc (formerly British Telecommunications plc) which trades as BT (ˌbiːˈtiː bee tee) (previously known as British Telecom and still ^[23] On August 23, 2005, Yahoo! and Verizon launched an integrated DSL service. Events 79 - Mount Vesuvius begins stirring on the feast day of Vulcan the Roman god of fire Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. "Verizon" redirects here this article is about the corporation see also Verizon Wireless, Verizon Online DSL and Verizon FiOS. ^[24]

In late 2002, Yahoo! began to bolster its search services by acquiring other search engines. In December 2002, Yahoo! acquired Inktomi. Inktomi Corporation was a California company that provided Software for Internet service providers It was founded in 1996 by UC Berkeley In February 2005, Yahoo! acquired Konfabulator and rebranded it Yahoo! Widgets,^[25] a desktop application and in July 2003, it acquired Overture Services, Inc. and its subsidiaries AltaVista and AlltheWeb. Yahoo! Widgets is a free application platform for Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows. Yahoo! Search Marketing is a keyword-based " Pay per click " or " Sponsored search " Internet advertising service provided by Yahoo!. AlltheWeb is a minor Internet Search engine that debuted in mid-1999 On February 18, 2004, Yahoo! dropped Google-powered results and returned to using its own technology to provide search results. Events 3102 BC - Epoch (origin of the Kali Yuga. 1229 - The Sixth Crusade: Frederick II Holy "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " Google Inc is an American public corporation, earning revenue from advertising related to its Internet search, e-mail, online

In 2004, in response to Google's release of Gmail, Yahoo! upgraded the storage of all free Yahoo! Mail accounts from 4 MB to 1 GB, and all Yahoo! Mail Plus accounts to 2 GB. Google Inc is an American public corporation, earning revenue from advertising related to its Internet search, e-mail, online Gmail, officially Google Mail in Germany and the United Kingdom is a free POP3 and IMAP A megabyte is a unit of Information or Computer storage equal to either 106 (1000000 Bytes or 220 (1048576 bytes depending on On 9 July 2004, Yahoo! acquired e-mail provider Oddpost to add an Ajax interface to Yahoo! Mail. Events 455 - Roman military commander Avitus is proclaimed Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " Oddpost was a pay-for Webmail service in 2002 that pioneered the use of JavaScript to mimic a desktop mail application the first notable foray into using Ajax Yahoo! Mail is a Web-based email (webmail service from Yahoo!. ^[26] On 13 October 2005, Yahoo! and Microsoft announced that Yahoo! Messenger and MSN Messenger would become interoperable. Events 54 - Nero ascends to the Roman throne 409 - Vandals and Alans crossed the Pyrenees Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Yahoo! Messenger is an Advertisement -supported Instant messaging client and associated protocol provided by Yahoo!. In 2007, Yahoo! took out the storage meters and made the storage limit unlimited.

Yahoo! continued acquiring companies to expand its range of services, particularly Web 2.0 services. Web 20 is a term describing changing trends in the use of World Wide Web technology and Web design that aims to enhance Creativity, secure Yahoo! Launchcast became Yahoo! Music on February 9, 2005. Yahoo! Music, owned by Yahoo!, is the provider of a variety of music services including Internet radio music videos news artist information and original programming Events 474 - Zeno crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. On March 20, 2005, Yahoo! purchased photo sharing service Flickr. Events 1600 - The Linköping Bloodbath takes place on Maundy Thursday in Linköping, Sweden. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Flickr is an image and video hosting Website, Web services suite and Online community platform ^[27] On March 29, 2005, the company launched its blogging and social networking service Yahoo! 360°. Events 1461 - Wars of the Roses: Battle of Towton - Edward of York defeats Queen Margaret to become King Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Yahoo! 360° is a personal communication portal operated by Yahoo!. In June 2005, Yahoo! acquired blo.gs, a service based on RSS feed aggregation. blogs is a service based on RSS feed aggregation primarily from Blogs, which produces a simple list (and also an RSS feed thereof of the user's bookmarked sites Yahoo! then bought online social event calendar Upcoming.org on October 4, 2005. Upcoming (formerly known as Upcomingorg) is a social event calendar website that launched in 2003 Events 610 - Heraclius arrives by ship from Africa at Constantinople, overthrows Byzantine Emperor Phocas Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Yahoo! acquired social bookmark site del.icio.us on December 9, 2005 and then playlist sharing community webjay on January 9, 2006. Events 536 - Byzantine General Belisarius enters Rome while the Ostrogothic garrison peacefully leaves the city Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. History Webjay was a web-based Playlist service launched in early 2004 Events 475 - Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar.

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 U.S., Canada, India and the Philippines. Events 479 BC - Greco-Persian Wars: Persian forces led by Mardonius are routed by Pausanias, the Spartan Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country The Philippines ( Filipino: Pilipinas, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (fil ''Republika ng Pilipinas'' RP ^[28]

On January 22, 2008, it was reported that Yahoo! was planning to lay off hundreds of employees out of its work force of about 14,000. Events 565 - Eutychius is deposed as Patriarch of Constantinople by John Scholasticus. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common The company has suffered severely in its inability to effectively compete with industry search leader Google. Google Inc is an American public corporation, earning revenue from advertising related to its Internet search, e-mail, online ^[29]

On January 29, 2008, Yahoo! announced that the company was laying off 1,000 employees. Events 904 - Sergius III comes out of retirement to take over the papacy from the deposed Antipope Christopher. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common 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. ^[30]

Failed acquisition attempt by Microsoft

Microsoft and Yahoo! pursued merger discussions in 2005, 2006, and 2007, that were all ultimately unsuccessful. Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational Computer technology Corporation, which rose to dominate the Home computer At the time, analysts were skeptical about the wisdom of a business combination. ^[31][32]

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. Events 1327 - Teenaged Edward III is crowned King of England, but the country is ruled by his mother Queen 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common In business a takeover is the purchase of one company (the target) by another (the acquirer, or bidder) 6 billion dollars in cash and stock. ^[33][7] Days later, Yahoo! considered alternatives to the merger with Microsoft, including a merger with internet giant Google^[34] or a potential transaction with News Corp. Google Inc is an American public corporation, earning revenue from advertising related to its Internet search, e-mail, online News Corporation (often abbreviated to News Corp) (,,) is one of the world's largest media conglomerate companies by Market capitalisation ^[35] However, on February 11, 2008, Yahoo! decided to reject Microsoft's offer as "substantially undervaluing" Yahoo!'s brand, audience, investments, and growth prospects. ^[8] 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. ^[36] 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. Eric Emerson Schmidt (born in Washington DC) is Chairman and CEO of Google Inc ^[37] The value of Microsoft's cash and stock offer declined with Microsoft's stock price, falling to $42. 2 billion by April 4. Events 1581 - Francis Drake completes a circumnavigation of the world and is knighted by Elizabeth I. ^[38] 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. Events 456 - St Patrick returns to Ireland as a missionary bishop Steve Anthony Ballmer (born March 24 1956 is an American Businessman. ^[39] In response, Yahoo! stated on April 7 that they were not against a merger, but that they wanted a better offer. Events 529 - First draft of Corpus Juris Civilis (a fundamental work in Jurisprudence) is issued by Eastern Roman Emperor In addition, they stated that Microsoft's "aggressive" approach was worsening their relationship and the chances of a "friendly" merger. ^[40] Later the same day, Yahoo! stated that the original $45 billion offer was not acceptable. ^[40] Following this, there has been considerable discussion of having Time Warner's AOL and Yahoo! merge, instead of the originally proposed Microsoft deal. Time Warner Inc ( is the world's largest media and entertainment conglomerate, headquartered in New York City. ^[41]

On May 3, 2008, Microsoft withdrew their offer. Events 1491 - Kongo monarch Nkuwu Nzinga is baptised by Portuguese missionaries adopting the baptismal name of João 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common 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 to make the takeover as difficult as possible, saying "They are going to burn the furniture if we go hostile. Poison pill is a term referring to any strategy generally in Business or Politics, to increase the likelihood of negative results over positive ones They are going to destroy the place. "^[9][42]

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. ^[43][44]

On May 5, 2008, Microsoft's withdrawal sent Yahoo!’s stock spiraling 13% lower to $23. Events 553 - The Second Council of Constantinople begins 1215 - Rebel Barons renounce their allegiance to King John 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common 02 in Monday trading and trimmed about $6 billion off of its market capitalization. ^[45]

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. Events 1381 - Peasants' Revolt: in England, rebels arrive at Blackheath. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common 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. ^[46]

Products and services

Main article: List of Yahoo-owned sites and services

Yahoo! provides a wide array of internet services that cater to most online activities. This is a partial alphabetized list of websites and services owned by Yahoo! Inc. 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. Yahoo! Mail is a Web-based email (webmail service from Yahoo!. Yahoo! Groups operate as both electronic mailing lists and Internet forums Group messages can be posted and read by E-mail or on the Group homepage like a web Yahoo! Messenger is an Advertisement -supported Instant messaging client and associated protocol provided by Yahoo!. The majority of the product offerings are available globally in more than 20 languages.

Diversified services

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. August 2007 is the eighth month of that year It began on a Wednesday and 31 days later ended on a Friday. Google Inc is an American public corporation, earning revenue from advertising related to its Internet search, e-mail, online 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". Events 359 - Honoratus, the first known Prefect of the City of Constantinople, takes office Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Google Inc is an American public corporation, earning revenue from advertising related to its Internet search, e-mail, online Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational Computer technology Corporation, which rose to dominate the Home computer Time Warner Inc ( is the world's largest media and entertainment conglomerate, headquartered in New York City. ^[47]

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. Yahoo! Mail is a Web-based email (webmail service from Yahoo!. Yahoo! Messenger is an Advertisement -supported Instant messaging client and associated protocol provided by Yahoo!. ^[48] In March, 2007, Yahoo! announced that their email service will offer unlimited storage beginning May 2007. ^[49]

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! Personals is an Online dating service provided by Yahoo!. Yahoo! 360° is a personal communication portal operated by Yahoo!. Flickr is an image and video hosting Website, Web services suite and Online community platform Yahoo! Buzz is a community-based news article website much like Digg, that combines the features of Social bookmarking and syndication through a user interface

Yahoo! Photos was shut down on 20 September 2007 in favor of Flickr. Events 451 - The Battle of Chalons takes place in North Eastern France. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. On 16 October 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. Events 456 - Magister militum Ricimer defeats the Emperor Avitus at Piacenza and becomes master of the western Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ^[50]

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! Sports was launched on December 8, 1997. Previously certain elements of Yahoo! Sports were named Yahoo! Scoreboard before the launch of Yahoo! Sports Yahoo! Finance is a service from Yahoo! that provides financial information Yahoo! Music, owned by Yahoo!, is the provider of a variety of music services including Internet radio music videos news artist information and original programming Yahoo! Movies, provided by the Yahoo! network is home to a large collection of information on movies past and new releases trailers and clips Box office Yahoo! News is an Internet -based News aggregator provided by Yahoo!. Yahoo! Answers is a community-driven Knowledge market website launched by Yahoo! on December 13, 2005 that allows users to both submit questions Yahoo! Games is the section of the Yahoo! Website in which Yahoo! users can play games either with other users or by themselves 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), Verizon Communications, Rogers Communications and British Telecom, offering a range of free and premium Yahoo! content and services to subscribers. Before proposing a merge request please see Talk and see if the merger you propose has recently been made and BellSouth Corporation is an American Telecommunications holding company based in Atlanta Georgia. Before proposing a merge request please see Talk and see if the merger you propose has recently been made and "Verizon" redirects here this article is about the corporation see also Verizon Wireless, Verizon Online DSL and Verizon FiOS. Rogers Communications Inc (,) is one of Canada's largest communications companies particularly in the field of wireless communications and Cable television, with additional BT Group plc (formerly British Telecommunications plc) which trades as BT (ˌbiːˈtiː bee tee) (previously known as British Telecom and still

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 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. Yahoo! Mobile is a mobile website operated by Yahoo! worldwide to promote its Yahoo! Go and mobile web products

oneSearch

Yahoo! introduced its Internet search system, called oneSearch, developed for mobile phones on March 20, 2007. Events 1600 - The Linköping Bloodbath takes place on Maundy Thursday in Linköping, Sweden. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. 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. ^[51]

Yahoo! has announced they also plan to adopt Novarra's mobile content transcoding service for the oneSearch platform. ^[52]

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! Shopping is Yahoo's Price comparison service. Yahoo uses the Kelkoo price comparison service it acquired in April 2004 to power Yahoo! Shopping in 6 countries Yahoo! Real Estate was launched by Yahoo! in June of 1998 with the mission to provide home buyers sellers and renters with the most relevant and comprehensive set of information

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! Search Marketing is a keyword-based " Pay per click " or " Sponsored search " Internet advertising service provided by Yahoo!. Yahoo! Publisher Network is an advertising tool for online publishers to place advertisements relevant to their content to monetize their websites. The Yahoo! Publisher Network (abbreviated YPN) is a beta network launched on August 2 2005 by Yahoo!. ^[53]

Yahoo! launched its new Internet advertisement sales system on February 5, 2007 called Panama. Panama is an online advertising platform created by Yahoo!. The new advertising platform is Yahoo’s effort to close the wide gap with Google in the race for It allows advertisers to bid for search terms based on their popularity to display their ads on search results pages. Advertising is a form of Communication that typically attempts to persuade potential Customers to Purchase or to consume more of a particular Brand The system takes bids, ad quality, click-through rates and other factors into consideration in determining how ads are ranked on search results pages. Click-through rate or CTR is a way of measuring the success of an Online advertising campaign 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. ^[54]

On 7 April 2008, Yahoo! announced Yahoo! AMP!, an online advertising management platform. Events 529 - First draft of Corpus Juris Civilis (a fundamental work in Jurisprudence) is issued by Eastern Roman Emperor 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common AMP! (formerly Project Apex is an upcoming Online advertising management platform from Yahoo!. ^[55] 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. Yahoo! Next is a showcase of some of Yahoo!'s newest and upcoming projects It contains forums for Yahoo! users to give feedback to assist in the development of these future Yahoo! technologies. An, or message board, is a Bulletin board system in the form of a discussion site

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. ^[56]

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. comScore is an internet Marketing research company that provides marketing data and services to many of the Internet's largest businesses 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. ^[57]

Financial data

Yahoo! International

Yahoo! is known across the world with its multi-lingual interface. Earnings before interest taxes depreciation and amortization (EBITDA is a non- GAAP metric that can be used to evaluate a company's profitability The site is available in over 20 languages, including English. International Yahoo! sites include:

•  Argentina Y! Argentina
• Y! Asia
•  Austria Y! Austria
•  Brazil Y! Brazil
•  Catalonia Y! Catalan
•  Chile Y! Chile
•  China Y! China
  • Yahoo! U.S. in Chinese
•  Colombia Y! Colombia
•  Denmark Y! Denmark
•  Finland Y! Finland
•  France Y! France²
•  Germany Y! Germany²
•  Greece Y! Greece
•  Hong Kong Y! Hong Kong
•  Indonesia Y! Indonesia
  • Formerly Y! Indonesia
•  Italy Y! Italy
•  Japan Y! Japan^1,2
•  South Korea Y! Korea²
•  Malaysia Y! Malaysia
  • Formerly Y! Malaysia
•  Mexico Y! Mexico
•  Netherlands Y! Netherlands
•  Norway Y! Norway
•  Peru Y! Peru
•  Philippines Y! Philippines
  • Formerly Y! Philippines
•  Quebec Y! Quebec (formerly Y! Canada en Français)
•  Russia Y! Russia (formerly Yahoo! U. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Argentina topics. Austria (Österreich ( officially the Republic of Austria (Republik Österreich |utc_offset = -2 to -4 |time_zone_DST = BRST |utc_offset_DST = -2 to -5 |cctld Catalonia (Cataluña Catalunya Aranese: Catalonha) is an Autonomous Community in the northeast part of Spain. Chile, officially the Republic of Chile ( Spanish:) is a country in South America occupying a long and narrow Coastal strip wedged between the Talk People's Republic of China) PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ARTICLE GUIDELINES Colombia (kəˈlʌmbɪə officially the Republic of Colombia () is a country in northwestern South America. The Kingdom of Denmark ( ˈd̥ænmɑɡ̊ (archaic ˈd̥anmɑːɡ̊ commonly known as Denmark, is a country in the Scandinavian region of northern Europe Finland, officially the Republic of Finland ( is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Greece (Ελλάδα transliterated: Elláda, historically, Ellás,) officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία Hong Kong ( officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located on China 's south coast on the Pearl River Delta, and borders The Republic of Indonesia ( (Republik Indonesia is a Country in Southeast Asia. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often referred to as Korea ( Korean: 대한민국 tɛː For the biogeographical region see Malesia Malaysia (məˈleɪʒə or /məˈleɪziə/ is a country that consists of thirteen states and The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands Norway ( Norwegian: Norge ( Bokmål) or Noreg ( Nynorsk) officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Constitutional Peru (Perú Piruw Piruw officially the Republic of Peru ( reˈpuβlika del peˈɾu is a country in western South America. The Philippines ( Filipino: Pilipinas, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (fil ''Republika ng Pilipinas'' RP Quebec (kwɨˈbɛk Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending S. in Russian)
•  Singapore Y! Singapore
•  Spain Y! Spain
•  Sweden Y! Sweden
•  Switzerland Y! Switzerland
•  Taiwan Y! Taiwan (Yahoo!Kimo)
•  Thailand Y! Thailand
  • Formerly Y! Thailand
•  Venezuela Y! Venezuela
•  Vietnam Y! Vietnam
•  Puerto Rico Y! Telemundo (Telemundo)
  • Y! U.S. in Espanol

Other English language sites include:

•  Australia Y! Australia (Yahoo!7), formerly named "Y! Australia and New Zealand"
•  Canada Y! Canada
•  India Y! India
•  New Zealand Y! New Zealand (Yahoo!Xtra)
•  UK Y! UK & IE²

Each of the international sites are wholly-owned by Yahoo!, with the exception of Yahoo! Japan¹, in which it holds a 33% minority stake. Singapore Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation REPUBLIC OF CHINA ARTICLE GUIDELINES The Kingdom of Thailand (ˈtaɪlænd ราชอาณาจักรไทย, râːtɕʰa-ʔaːnaːtɕɑ̀k-tʰɑj Venezuela (ˌvɛnəˈzweɪlə) officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (Spanish República Bolivariana de Venezuela) is a country on the Vietnam (ˌviːɛtˈnɑːm Việt Nam) officially Puerto Rico (ˌpwertoˈriko officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ("Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico" {{lang-en|"Associated Free State of Puerto Rico"}} Telemundo is an American television network based in Hialeah Florida a suburb of Miami Florida. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. Yahoo!7 is a 50-50 partnership between the Seven Network and Yahoo! Inc. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island Yahoo!Xtra is a a joint venture Web portal between Yahoo!7 and Telecom New Zealand. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Historically, Yahoo! entered into joint venture agreements with Softbank for the major European sites² (UK, France, Germany) and well as Korea and Japan. In November 2005, Yahoo! purchased the minority interests that Softbank owned in Europe and Korea.

Criticism and controversy

Yahoo! paid inclusion controversy

In March 2004, Yahoo! launched a paid inclusion program whereby commercial websites are guaranteed listings on the Yahoo! search engine after payment. March 2004: January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September ^[59] This scheme is lucrative, but has proved unpopular both with website marketers (who are reluctant to pay), and the public (who are unhappy about the paid-for listings being indistinguishable from other search results). ^[60] As of October 2006, Paid Inclusion doesn't guarantee any commercial listing, it only helps the paid inclusion customers, by crawling their site more often and by providing some statistics on the searches that led to the page and some additional smart links (provided by customers as feeds) below the actual url. October 2006 was a month that began on a Sunday The month was marked by a nuclear test by North Korea that prompted that passing of Resolution 1718

Adware and Spyware

Yahoo! has also been criticized for funding spyware and adware — advertising from Yahoo!’s clients often appears on-screen in pop-ups generated from adware that a user may have installed on their computer without realizing it by accepting online offers to download software to fix computer clocks or improve computer security, add browser enhancements, etc. Such content will be deleted Specific software is to be mentioned in this article only Adware or advertising-supported software is any software package which automatically plays displays or downloads advertisements The frequency of advertising pop-ups for spyware, generated from a partnership with advertising distributor Walnut Ventures, who had a direct partnership with Direct Revenue, could be increased or decreased based on Yahoo!’s immediate revenue needs, according to some former employees in Yahoo!’s sales department. Direct Revenue is a New York City company founded in 2002 known for creating Spyware or Adware programs ^[61][62]

Work in the People's Republic of China

Yahoo!, along with Google China, Microsoft, Cisco, AOL, Skype, Nortel and others, has cooperated with the Chinese government in implementing a system of internet censorship in mainland China. Google China (谷歌 Pinyin: gǔ gē literally meaning " valley song " (谷歌 in Traditional Chinese characters or " crop song " (穀歌 Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational Computer technology Corporation, which rose to dominate the Home computer Skype (skaɪp is Software that allows users to make telephone calls over the Internet. Nortel Networks Corporation () formerly known as Northern Telecom Limited and sometimes known simply as Nortel, is a multinational Telecommunications The Communist Party of China ( CPC) ( also known as the Chinese Communist Party ( CCP) is the founding and ruling political party of the

Unlike Google or Microsoft, which keep confidential records of its users outside mainland China, Yahoo! stated that the company will not protect the privacy and confidentiality of its Chinese customers from the authorities. Google Inc is an American public corporation, earning revenue from advertising related to its Internet search, e-mail, online Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational Computer technology Corporation, which rose to dominate the Home computer ^[63]

Human rights advocates such as Human Rights Watch and media groups such as Reporters Without Borders state that it is "ironic that companies whose existence depends on freedom of information and expression have taken on the role of censor. Human Rights Watch is a United States -based international Non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on Human rights. "^[64]

Imprisonment of Chinese dissidents

Shi Tao

Main article: Shi Tao

In September 2005, Reporters Without Borders reported the following story. Thomas Peter Lantos ( February 1 1928 – February 11 2008) was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives Shi Tao ( born 25 July 1968) is a mainland Chinese Journalist, Writer and Poet, who in 2005 was sentenced to imprisonment for 10 In April 2005, Shi Tao, a journalist working for a Chinese newspaper, was sentenced to 10 years in prison by the Changsha Intermediate People's Court of Hunan Province, China (First trial case no. Shi Tao ( born 25 July 1968) is a mainland Chinese Journalist, Writer and Poet, who in 2005 was sentenced to imprisonment for 10 Changsha ( is the Capital city of Hunan, a province of south-central China, located on the lower reaches of Xiang river a branch of the ( is a province of China, located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting (hence the name Hunan, meaning China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National 29), for "providing state secrets to foreign entities". The "secrets" were a brief list of censorship orders he sent from a Yahoo! Mail account to the Asia Democracy Forum before the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Incident. Democracy is a form of government in which the supreme power is held completely by the people under a free electoral system The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 culminating in the Tiananmen Square Massacre (referred to in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident, to avoid confusion with two ^[66]

The verdict as published by the Chinese government stated the following. Shi Tao had sent the email through an anonymous Yahoo! account. Yahoo! Holdings (the Hong Kong subsidiary of Yahoo) told the Chinese government that the IP address used to send the email was registered by the Hunan newspaper that Shi Tao worked for. ( is a province of China, located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting (hence the name Hunan, meaning Police went straight to his offices and picked him up.

In February 2006, Yahoo! General Counsel submitted a statement to the U. Stories without links will be removed. News stories must be in English S. Congress in which Yahoo! denied knowing the true nature of the case against Shi Tao. ^[67] In April 2006, Yahoo! Holdings (Hong Kong) was investigated by Hong Kong's Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data. Hong Kong ( officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located on China 's south coast on the Pearl River Delta, and borders

On 2 June 2006, the union representing journalists in the UK and Ireland (NUJ) called on its 40,000 members to boycott all Yahoo! Inc. Events 455 - The Vandals enter Rome, and plunder the city for two weeks Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. products and services to protest the Internet company's reported actions in China. ^[68]

In July 2007, evidence surfaced detailing the warrant which the Chinese authorities sent to Yahoo! officials, highlighting "State Secrets" as the charge against Shi Tao. July 2007 is the seventh month of that year It began on a Sunday and 31 days later ended on a Tuesday. The warrant requests "Email account registration information for huoyan1989@yahoo. com. cn, all login times, corresponding IP addresses, and relevant email content from February 22, 2004 to present. Events 1495 - King Charles VIII of France enters Naples to claim the city's throne "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " "^[69][70][71] Analyst reports and human rights organizations have said that this evidence directly contradicts Yahoo!’s testimony before the U. S. Congress in February 2006. ^[72]

Yahoo! contends it must respect the laws of governments in jurisdictions where it is operating.

Li Zhi

Main article: Li Zhi (dissident)

Criticism of Yahoo! intensified in February 2006 when Reporters Without Borders released Chinese court documents stating that Yahoo! aided Chinese authorities in the case of dissident Li Zhi. Li Zhi was sentenced to eight years imprisonment in December 2003 in the People's Republic of China for trying to join the China Democratic Party, which is a banned A dissident, broadly defined is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine policy or institution In December 2003 Li Zhi was sentenced to 8 years imprisonment for "inciting subversion". Subversion refers to an attempt to overthrow structures of Authority, including the State.

Sued in US court for outing Chinese dissident Wang Xiaoning

Main article: Wang Xiaoning

Wang Xiaoning is a Chinese dissident from Shenyang who was arrested by authorities of the People's Republic of China for publishing controversial material online. Wang Xiaoning ( Chinese: 王小宁 Pinyin: Wáng Xiǎoníng is a Chinese Dissident from Shenyang who was arrested by authorities Wang Xiaoning ( Chinese: 王小宁 Pinyin: Wáng Xiǎoníng is a Chinese Dissident from Shenyang who was arrested by authorities China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National A dissident, broadly defined is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine policy or institution Shenyang ( Ch: 沈阳 pinyin Shěnyáng, or Mukden ( in Manchu) is a Sub-provincial city and capital of Liaoning Talk People's Republic of China) PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ARTICLE GUIDELINES

In 2000 and 2001, Wang, who was an engineer by profession, posted electronic journals in a Yahoo! group calling for democratic reform and an end to single-party rule. He was arrested in September 2002 after Yahoo! assisted Chinese authorities by providing information. September 2002: January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - In September 2003, Wang was convicted of charges of "incitement to subvert state power" and sentenced to ten years in prison. September 2003: January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September ^[74]

On April 18, 2007, Xiaoning's wife Yu Ling sued Yahoo! under human rights laws in federal court in San Francisco, California, United States. Events 1025 - Bolesław Chrobry is crowned in Gniezno, becoming the first King of Poland. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the ^[75] Wang Xiaoning is named as a plaintiff in the Yahoo! suit, which was filed with help from the World Organization for Human Rights USA. A plaintiff ( Π in Legal shorthand) also known as a claimant or complainant, is the party who initiates a Lawsuit "Yahoo! is guilty of 'an act of corporate irresponsibility,' said Morton Sklar, executive director of the group. "Yahoo! had reason to know that if they provided China with identification information that those individuals would be arrested. "^[76]

Yahoo!’s decision to assist China's authoritarian government came as part of a policy of reconciling its services with the Chinese government's policies. This came after China blocked Yahoo! services for a time. As reported in The Washington Post and many media sources:

The suit says that in 2001, Wang was using a Yahoo! e-mail account to post anonymous writings to an Internet mailing list. The Washington Post is the largest and most circulated Newspaper in Washington D The suit alleges that Yahoo!, under pressure from the Chinese government, blocked that account. Wang set up a new account via Yahoo! and began sending material again; the suit alleges that Yahoo! gave the government information that allowed it to identify and arrest Wang in September 2002. September 2002: January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - The suit says prosecutors in the Chinese courts cited Yahoo!’s cooperation. ^[76]

Human rights organizations groups are basing their case on a 217-year-old U. S. law to punish corporations for human rights violations abroad, an effort the Bush administration has opposed:

In recent years, activists working with overseas plaintiffs have sued roughly two dozen businesses under the Alien Tort Claims Act, which the activists say grants jurisdiction to American courts over acts abroad that violate international norms. The Alien Tort Statute ( ATS, also called the Alien Tort Claims Act and Alien Torts Claim Act) is a Federal law of the United States Written by the Founding Fathers in 1789 for a different purpose, the law was rarely invoked until the 1980s. Founding Fathers are persons instrumental in the establishment of an Institution, usually a political institution especially those connected to the origination of its Ideals ^[76]

On August 28, 2007, the World Organization for Human Rights sued Yahoo! for allegedly passing information (email and IP address) with the Chinese government that caused the arrests of writers and dissidents. Events 475 - The Roman General Orestes forces western Roman Emperor Julius Nepos to flee his Capital Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Electronic mail, often abbreviated to e-mail, email, or originally eMail, is a Store-and-forward method of writing sending receiving An Internet Protocol ( IP) address is a numerical identification ( Logical address) that is assigned to devices participating in a Computer network An arrest is the act of depriving a person of his or her liberty usually in relation to the investigation and prevention of crime A dissident, broadly defined is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine policy or institution The suit was filed in San Francisco for journalists, Shi Tao, and Wang Xiaoning. The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city A journalist (also called a newspaperman) is a person who practices Journalism, the gathering and dissemination of information about current events trends Shi Tao ( born 25 July 1968) is a mainland Chinese Journalist, Writer and Poet, who in 2005 was sentenced to imprisonment for 10 Wang Xiaoning ( Chinese: 王小宁 Pinyin: Wáng Xiǎoníng is a Chinese Dissident from Shenyang who was arrested by authorities Yahoo! stated that it supported privacy and free expression for it worked with other technology companies to solve human rights concerns. Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without Censorship or Limitation. Human rights refers to the "basic Rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled ^[77]

On November 6, 2007, the US congressional panel criticised Yahoo! for not giving full details to the House Foreign Affairs Committee the previous year, stating it had been "at best inexcusably negligent" and at worst "deceptive". The US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, also known as the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives ^[78]

Chatrooms and message boards

As a result of media scrutiny relating to Internet child predators and a lack of significant ad revenues, Yahoo!’s "user created" chatrooms were closed down in June 2005. ^[79] Yahoo! News' message board section was closed December 19, 2006, due to the trolling phenomenon. Events 324 - Licinius abdicates his position as Roman Emperor. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who posts controversial and irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community such as an ^[80]

Image search

On May 25, 2006, Yahoo!’s image search was criticized for bringing up sexually explicit images even when SafeSearch was on. Events 1085 - Alfonso VI of Castile takes Toledo Spain back from the Moors. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. This was discovered by a teacher who was intending to use the service with a class to search for "www". Yahoo!'s response to this was, "Yahoo! is aware of this issue and is working to resolve it as quickly as possible". ^[81]

Shark finning controversy

Yahoo! is a 40% owner of Alibaba, which facilitates the sale of shark-derived products. Alibaba ( ( is a Hangzhou -based e-commerce / e-auction company specializing in global trading Sharks ( Superorder Selachimorpha) are a type of Fish with a full cartilaginous Skeleton and a highly streamlined body ^[82] After investing in Alibaba, Yahoo! executives were asked about this issue, and responded: "We know the sale of shark products is both legal in Asia and a centuries-old tradition. This issue is largely a cultural-practices one. "^[83] However, the "cultural" claim (which is pushed by the trade)^[84] has been contested. ^[85]

See also

• List of search engines
• List of acquisitions by Yahoo!
• Timeline of events for Yahoo!
• YMSG - Yahoo! Messenger Protocol

Notes and references

External links

• Yahoo! India
• Yahoo! UK and Ireland
• Official website
• Official UK website
• Yodel Anecdotal corporate blog
• Yahoo! Toolbar
• Corporate milestones
• The History of Yahoo! - How It All Started...
• Yahoo! Jerry and Dave's Excellent Venture - a video documentary about the beginnings of Yahoo!
• ajax Yahoo!
• Earliest known Yahoo! website from 1996 - archive.org
• Yahoo! Organizational Chart Wiki