Yahoo is a company that has made many mistakes in its history, some of which involved acquiring other companies that failed to deliver value or integrate well with Yahoo’s strategy. Here are 10 of the biggest Yahoo purchase failures of all time.
- Broadcast.com (1999): Yahoo paid $5.7 billion for this online television site, which had only 570,000 monthly active users and was losing money. Yahoo later shut down the service.
- GeoCities (1999): Yahoo paid $4.58 billion for this site that allowed users to create their own personal websites. GeoCities was a pioneer in this field, but Yahoo failed to capitalize on its potential and eventually closed it in 2009.
- Google (1997, 2002): Yahoo missed two opportunities to buy Google, the first for around $1 million in 1997, and the second for $1 billion in 2002. Yahoo instead licensed Google’s search technology, which helped Google grow and become Yahoo’s main competitor.
- Facebook (2006): Yahoo offered to buy Facebook for $1 billion, but Mark Zuckerberg declined. Facebook later became the dominant social network and one of the most valuable companies in the world.
- Tumblr (2013): Yahoo bought the microblogging platform for $1.1 billion, hoping to attract younger users and boost its advertising revenue. However, Yahoo struggled to monetize Tumblr and wrote down its value by $230 million in 2016.
- Flickr (2005): Yahoo acquired the popular photo-sharing site for $35 million, but failed to innovate and keep up with the changing needs of users. Flickr lost ground to rivals like Instagram and Pinterest, and Yahoo sold it for $25 million in 2018.
- Overture (2003): Yahoo bought the online advertising company for $1.63 billion, hoping to challenge Google’s dominance in search ads. However, Yahoo was unable to integrate Overture’s technology and lost market share to Google and Microsoft.
- Kelkoo (2004): Yahoo paid $579 million for this European e-commerce site, which was supposed to help Yahoo expand its presence in online shopping. However, Kelkoo faced stiff competition from Amazon and eBay, and Yahoo sold it for an undisclosed amount in 2008.
- Xobni (2013): Yahoo spent $40 million to buy this email management startup, which it hoped to use to improve its own email service. However, Yahoo shut down Xobni the following year, without incorporating any of its features.
- Delicious (2005): Yahoo acquired the social bookmarking site for an estimated $15-30 million, but neglected to develop it further. Delicious was once one of the most popular web services, but its user base dwindled under Yahoo’s ownership. Yahoo sold it for a fraction of its original price in 2011.
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