After putting itself on the market in February, Yahoo finally has a buyer for its internet business: Verizon. AT&T and Quicken Loans were both said to have been interested in buying the firm, and rumors of 38 other potential buyers surfaced back in March. But on Monday, Verizon announced it will buy most of the long-struggling company for $4.83 billion in cash. The deal, which is subject to approval by regulators and Yahoo’s shareholders—is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017.
Yahoo itself will remain a concern, retaining patents as well as stakes in several several Asian companies (including Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba). If the deal goes through, Verizon will bring together the “core” Yahoo business with AOL, another former giant of the first dotcom era, which it bought in 2015. Those core Yahoo properties include advertising, email, search, and the media business. At a time when Google has a market capitalization of $516.57 billion, Yahoo’s $4.83 billion price tag might not seem like a lot, especially since it remains the fifth most-visited website in the U.S. Then again, Yahoo-branded services were once the backbone of many internet users’ online experience in a way they haven’t been for a very long time, and that sale price reflects a company on the tail end of a long decline.
So which Yahoo businesses will live on at Verizon? And which never even made it this far? Grab your lasso and strap in for this (lengthy but not exhaustive) ride down memory-hole lane.
Ask Yahoo: A Q&A platform which was shut down to make way for Yahoo! Answers in 2005.
Bix: A contest tool, discontinued in 2009.
BrightRoll: A video advertising platform. Verizon acquisition.
Flickr: Subjecting the world to everyone’s’ family travel photos since 2004 (acquired by Yahoo in 2005). Verizon acquisition.
Flurry: A mobile analytics, monetization, and advertising company. Verizon acquisition.
FoxyTunes: A shuttered music-service alternative for the iTunes-averse.
Polyvore: A popular fashion, beauty, and home décor website. Verizon acquisition.
Rocketmail: One of the rarest email domains since 2013, when Yahoo! stopped creating new accounts. Verizon acquisition.
Tumblr: Where you probably get your .gifs. Bought by Yahoo in 2013. Verizon acquisition.
Yahoo! Advertising: The umbrella for all of Yahoo’s advertising services. Verizon acquisition.
Yahoo! Answers: A site where you can question, answer, and battle trolls all at once. Verizon acquisition.
Yahoo! Autos: A site to “buy, sell, maintain, research, and discuss cars.” Verizon acquisition.
Yahoo! Assistant: A browser helper for Internet Explorer. Verizon acquisition.
Yahoo! Axis: A discontinued mobile browser and web browser extension for iOS devices.
Yahoo! Avatars: A site, discontinued as of 2013, where users could design avatars for their Yahoo profile.
Yahoo! Babel Fish: A free multilingual translation service, replaced, in 2012, by Bing Translator. Any user who visited the Babel Fish website they found themselves transferred to Bing Translator.
Yahoo! Briefcase: Shut down in 2009, this was Yahoo’s version of iCloud.
Yahoo! Buzz: A community-based news article website, where the dreams of all nonprofessional news writers died in 2011.
Yahoo Celebrity: Celebrity gossip. Verizon acquisition.
Yahoo! Directory: Yahoo’s first offering, this web directory was defunct by 2014.
Yahoo! Family Accounts: Yahoo doesn’t currently support the creation of new family accounts.
Yahoo! Finance: Providing stock quotes and financial information since 2007. Verizon acquisition.
Yahoo! Gallery: The shuttered service from Yahoo! that offered access to applications—now redirected to Yahoo! Pulse.
Yahoo! Games: Passed away earlier this year. Sorry Spades players!
Yahoo! Go: The discontinued Java-based phone application to give PDA users and other mobile users access to Yahoo products.
Yahoo! Green: This site provided a platform where people could discuss environmentally conscious lifestyles. It shuttered in 2012.
Yahoo! Groups: Yahoo’s version of Google Groups. Verizon acquisition.
Yahoo! Homes: A home buying, selling, and renting site. Verizon acquisition.
Yahoo! HotJobs: Bought by the less excitingly named Monster.com.
Yahoo! Kickstart: Closed down in 2008, this site was a professional network for college students, alumni, recent graduates, and employers. It seems existing college alumni networks were enough.
Yahoo! Koprol: An Indonesian social networking service shut down in 2012.
Yahoo! Kids: Originally Yahooligans! Discontinued in 2013.
Yahoo! Live: Closed as of 2008, this service allowed users to broadcast videos in real time.
Yahoo! Mail: The domain name keeping the question, “You still use yahoo?” alive. Verizon acquisition.
Yahoo! Maps: Google Maps’ less exciting rival. Verizon acquisition.
Yahoo! Mash: In existence for a little less than a year, this site—closed in 2008—was a social networking service where users could “mashup” existing web services.
Yahoo! Meme: Discontinued in 2012, this microblogging site was conceived as a mix between Twitter and Tumblr functionality.
Yahoo! Messenger: An instant messenger for those with Yahoo accounts. Verizon acquisition.
Yahoo! Mobile: Mobile services offered by Yahoo. Verizon acquisition.
Yahoo! Movies: A one-stop shop for movie trailers, gossip, and information. Verizon acquisition.
Yahoo! Music: A site for music videos and internet radio. Verizon acquisition.
Yahoo! Music Unlimited: Discontinued in 2008, this site was the on-demand music subscription service linked to Yahoo! Music.
Yahoo! News: Yahoo’s news service. Verizon acquisition.
Yahoo! Originals: Providers of 100 percent original video content. (And the saviors of Community.) Verizon acquisition.
Yahoo! Personals: Yahoo’s dating platform, replaced in 2010 by Match.com.
Yahoo! Photos: The pre-Flickr way of posting phots to share with family and friends. Defunct as of 2000.
Yahoo! Pipes: A now-defunct user interface for building data mashups.
Yahoo! Podcasts: Shut down in 2007. Exactly what it sounds like.
Yahoo! Publisher Network: Closed in 2010, this advertising network provided tools to assist publishers building their websites.
Yahoo! Pulse: A way to connect and engage with people on Yahoo. Dumped by Yahoo in 2015 due to a lack of popularity.
Yahoo! Screen: An on-demand streaming service discontinued in 2006.
Yahoo! Site Explorer: Offered users information on websites, this eventually merged with Bing Webmaster Tools.
Yahoo! Search: The “its better than Bing but worse than Google” search engine. Verizon acquisition.
Yahoo! Shopping: Yahoo’s price-comparison service. Verizon acquisition.
Yahoo! Sports: A sports news provider, with fantasy sports. Verizon acquisition.
Yahoo! Tech: A news and tech site. Verizon acquisition.
Yahoo! Travel: A site with travel information and some of the largest ads I’ve ever seen. Verizon acquisition.
Yahoo! TV: Online TV news. Verizon acquisition.
Yahoo Web Analytics: Discontinued in 2012.
Yahoo! 360°: A now defunct social-networking portal.
Yahoo! 360° Plus Vietnam: A similar service available in Vietnam and discontinued in 2012.
