Yahoo’s Rocky Road

Presented by Mark E. Davis

History

In January 1994, Jerry Yang and David Filo started a list of web pages in campus trailer at Stanford University as Ph.D. students.

The web site started out as "Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web" but eventually was renamed Yahoo!

History (cont’d)

By the end of 1994, Yahoo had already received one million hits.

Yahoo’s business potential inspired Filo and Yang inspired them to incorporate in March 1, 1995.

On March 8, 1997, Yahoo acquired online communications company Four11. Four11's webmail service, Rocketmail, which became Yahoo! Mail.

Interesting Facts

Filo and Yang insist they selected the name because they liked the general definition of a yahoo: "rude, unsophisticated, uncouth.“

"Yahoo" had already been trademarked for barbecue sauce, so Yang and Filo added the exclamation mark to the name

Audience Questions

Who uses Yahoo? What do you utilize Yahoo for? Of those that use Yahoo primarily, why do

you choose to use Yahoo over any other service (I.E. Google)?– Share your experience with using Yahoo.

Yahoo! Products and Services

Communication- Yahoo! Messenger

Content- Yahoo! Sports, Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! Music, Yahoo! Movies, Yahoo! News

Commerce- Yahoo Shopping, Yahoo! Autos, Yahoo! Real Estate and Yahoo Travel

Yahoo! Products and Services

Mobile

- Yahoo! Mobile

Small business

- Yahoo! Domains, Yahoo! Web Hosting, Yahoo! Merchant Solutions, Yahoo! Business Email

Advertising

- Yahoo! Search Marketing!

Other Yahoo! Products and Services

• Family Accounts • Fire Eagle • Flickr • My Yahoo! • omg! • Pipes • Wii - Yahoo! Games • Upcoming.org • Yahoo! 360° Beta• Yahoo! Servers • Yahoo! Shopping • Yahoo! Site • Yahoo! Sports

• Yahoo! TV Coverage • Yahoo! Tech • Yahoo! Toolbar • Yahoo! Travel • Yahoo! Travel Submit • Yahoo! Visa Card • Yahoo! Wallet • Yahoo! Weather • Yahoo! Website Services • Yahoo! Widget Engine &

Widgets • Yahoo! Yellow Pages • Yahoo! by Phone

Recent News

On February 1, 2008, Microsoft made an unsolicited bid to purchase Yahoo for $31 a share, or $44.6 billion for all the shares.

Days later, Yahoo considered alternatives to the merger with Microsoft, including a merger with internet giant Google or a potential transaction with News Corp.

February 11, 2008, Yahoo decided to reject Microsoft's offer as "substantially undervaluing" Yahoo's brand, audience, investments, and growth prospects.

Recent News (Cont’d)

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.

Microsoft withdrew a $47.5 billion offer to buy the Internet portal on May 3.

Recent News (Cont’d)

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.

Yahoo has given shareholders until May 15 to nominate an alternate slate of directors before it holds its annual shareholder meeting one day before the July 4 weekend.

Questions

What are the possible effects on the internet if the merger takes place?

- 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.

What do you think about this quote?

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahoo! http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/press/histo

ry.cfm http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/01/technology

/microsoft_yahoo/index.htm http://money.cnn.com/2008/05/03/technology

/microsoft_yahoo/index.htm?cnn=yes