Yahoo
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine (Yahoo! Search), Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping, video sharing, fantasy sports and social media website and services. It is one of the largest websites in the United States.[3]
Yahoo! Inc. was founded by Jerry Yang and David Filo in January 1994 and was incorporated on March 1, 1995. On January 13, 2009, Yahoo! appointed Carol Bartz, former executive chairman of Autodesk, as its new chief executive officer and a member of the board of directors.[4] On September 6, 2011, Bartz was removed from her position at Yahoo! by chairman Roy Bostock and CFO Tim Morse was named as Interim CEO of the company.[5][6] On January 4, 2012, Scott Thompson, former President of PayPal, was named the new chief executive officer.[7]
According to news sources roughly 700 million people visit Yahoo websites every month.[8][9] Yahoo! itself claims it attracts "more than half a billion consumers every month in more than 30 languages".[10]
History and growth Main article: History of Yahoo! See also: Timeline of Yahoo! Jerry Yang and David Filo, the founders of Yahoo! In January 1994, Jerry Yang and David Filo were electrical engineering graduate students at Stanford University when they created a website named "Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web".[11] David and Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web was a directory of other websites, organized in a hierarchy, as opposed to a searchable index of pages. In April 1994, "David and Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web" was renamed "Yahoo!".[12][13] The yahoo.com domain was created on January 18, 1995.[14] The word is an acronym for "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle."[15] The term "hierarchical" described how the Yahoo! database was arranged in directory layers. The term "oracle" was intended to mean "source of truth and wisdom," and "officious", rather than being related in any way to the meaning of the word, described the many office workers who would use the Yahoo! database while surfing from work.[16] However, Filo and Yang insist they mainly selected the name because they liked the slang definition of a "yahoo" (used by college students in David Filo's native Louisiana in the late 1980s and early 1990s to refer to an unsophisticated, rural Southerner): "rude, unsophisticated, uncouth." Filo's college girlfriend often referred to Filo as a "yahoo." This meaning derives from the name of a race of fictional beings from Gulliver's Travels.
Yahoo! grew rapidly throughout the 1990s. Like many search engines and web directories, Yahoo! diversified into a web portal. It also made many high-profile acquisitions. Its stock price skyrocketed during the dot-com bubble, Yahoo! stocks closing at an all-time high of $118.75 a share on 3 January 2000. However, after the dot-com bubble burst, it settled at a post-bubble low of $4.05 on 26 September 2001.
In 2000, Yahoo! began using Google for search results. Over the next four years, it developed its own search technologies, which it began using in 2004. Yahoo! also revamped its mail service to compete with Google's Gmail in 2007. The company struggled through 2008, with several large layoffs.
In February 2008, Microsoft Corporation made an unsolicited bid to acquire Yahoo! for USD $44.6 billion. Yahoo! subsequently formally rejected the bid, claiming that it "substantially undervalues" Yahoo! and was not in the interest of its shareholders. Three years later, Yahoo! had a stock market capitalization of USD $22.24 billion.[17] Carol Bartz replaced cofounder Jerry Yang in January 2009.[18] In September 2011 she was removed from her position at Yahoo! by the company's chairman Roy Bostock, and CFO Tim Morse was named as Interim CEO of the company.
In early 2012, after the appointment of Scott Thompson as the new CEO many rumors have been swerling about large layoffs looming. Kara Swisher who covers Yahoo at All Things Digital reported that Andrei Broder, VP of computational advertising and chief scientist of the Advertising Product Group, as well as Jianchang (JC) Mao, who heads advertising sciences have left the company This follows the departures of Yahoo Labs head Prabhakar Raghavan who left for Google, and Raghu Ramakrishnan, who went to Microsoft. [19]
As of May 22, 2008, an article in Computer World states that Yahoo has a 2-petabyte, specially built data warehouse, which it uses to analyze the behavior of its half-billion Web visitors per month, processing 24 billion events a day.[21] In contrast the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) database of all US taxpayers weighs in at only 150 TB.[21]
Yahoo! Photos was shut down on September 20, 2007, in favor of Flickr. On October 16, 2007, Yahoo! announced that they would no longer provide support or perform bug fixes on Yahoo! 360° as they intended to abandon it in early 2008 in favor of a "universal profile" that will be similar to their Mash experimental system.[25]
Content Yahoo! partners with numerous content providers in products such as Yahoo! Sports, Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! Music, Yahoo! Movies, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Answers and Yahoo! Games to provide media content and news. Yahoo! also provides a personalization service, My Yahoo!, which enables users to combine their favorite Yahoo! features, content feeds and information onto a single page.
Yahoo! also introduced its Internet search system, called oneSearch, developed for mobile phones on March 20, 2007. 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, along with 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.
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! Publisher Network is an advertising tool for online publishers to place advertisements relevant to their content to monetize their websites.[31]
Yahoo! launched its new Internet advertisement sales system on February 5, 2007, called Panama. It allows advertisers to bid for search terms based on their popularity to display their ads on search results pages. The system takes bids, ad quality, clickthrough rates and other factors into consideration in determining how ads are ranked on search results pages. 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.[32]
On April 7, 2008, Yahoo! announced APT from Yahoo!, which was originally called AMP! from Yahoo!,[33] an online advertising management platform.[34] The platform seeks to simplify advertising sales by unifying buyer and seller markets. The service was launched in September 2008.[35]
In September 2011, Yahoo formed an ad selling strategic partnership with 2 of its top competitors, AOL and Microsoft.[36]
Yahoo! Inc. was founded by Jerry Yang and David Filo in January 1994 and was incorporated on March 1, 1995. On January 13, 2009, Yahoo! appointed Carol Bartz, former executive chairman of Autodesk, as its new chief executive officer and a member of the board of directors.[4] On September 6, 2011, Bartz was removed from her position at Yahoo! by chairman Roy Bostock and CFO Tim Morse was named as Interim CEO of the company.[5][6] On January 4, 2012, Scott Thompson, former President of PayPal, was named the new chief executive officer.[7]
According to news sources roughly 700 million people visit Yahoo websites every month.[8][9] Yahoo! itself claims it attracts "more than half a billion consumers every month in more than 30 languages".[10]
History and growth Main article: History of Yahoo! See also: Timeline of Yahoo! Jerry Yang and David Filo, the founders of Yahoo! In January 1994, Jerry Yang and David Filo were electrical engineering graduate students at Stanford University when they created a website named "Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web".[11] David and Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web was a directory of other websites, organized in a hierarchy, as opposed to a searchable index of pages. In April 1994, "David and Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web" was renamed "Yahoo!".[12][13] The yahoo.com domain was created on January 18, 1995.[14] The word is an acronym for "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle."[15] The term "hierarchical" described how the Yahoo! database was arranged in directory layers. The term "oracle" was intended to mean "source of truth and wisdom," and "officious", rather than being related in any way to the meaning of the word, described the many office workers who would use the Yahoo! database while surfing from work.[16] However, Filo and Yang insist they mainly selected the name because they liked the slang definition of a "yahoo" (used by college students in David Filo's native Louisiana in the late 1980s and early 1990s to refer to an unsophisticated, rural Southerner): "rude, unsophisticated, uncouth." Filo's college girlfriend often referred to Filo as a "yahoo." This meaning derives from the name of a race of fictional beings from Gulliver's Travels.
Yahoo! grew rapidly throughout the 1990s. Like many search engines and web directories, Yahoo! diversified into a web portal. It also made many high-profile acquisitions. Its stock price skyrocketed during the dot-com bubble, Yahoo! stocks closing at an all-time high of $118.75 a share on 3 January 2000. However, after the dot-com bubble burst, it settled at a post-bubble low of $4.05 on 26 September 2001.
In 2000, Yahoo! began using Google for search results. Over the next four years, it developed its own search technologies, which it began using in 2004. Yahoo! also revamped its mail service to compete with Google's Gmail in 2007. The company struggled through 2008, with several large layoffs.
In February 2008, Microsoft Corporation made an unsolicited bid to acquire Yahoo! for USD $44.6 billion. Yahoo! subsequently formally rejected the bid, claiming that it "substantially undervalues" Yahoo! and was not in the interest of its shareholders. Three years later, Yahoo! had a stock market capitalization of USD $22.24 billion.[17] Carol Bartz replaced cofounder Jerry Yang in January 2009.[18] In September 2011 she was removed from her position at Yahoo! by the company's chairman Roy Bostock, and CFO Tim Morse was named as Interim CEO of the company.
In early 2012, after the appointment of Scott Thompson as the new CEO many rumors have been swerling about large layoffs looming. Kara Swisher who covers Yahoo at All Things Digital reported that Andrei Broder, VP of computational advertising and chief scientist of the Advertising Product Group, as well as Jianchang (JC) Mao, who heads advertising sciences have left the company This follows the departures of Yahoo Labs head Prabhakar Raghavan who left for Google, and Raghu Ramakrishnan, who went to Microsoft. [19]
As of May 22, 2008, an article in Computer World states that Yahoo has a 2-petabyte, specially built data warehouse, which it uses to analyze the behavior of its half-billion Web visitors per month, processing 24 billion events a day.[21] In contrast the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) database of all US taxpayers weighs in at only 150 TB.[21]
Yahoo! Photos was shut down on September 20, 2007, in favor of Flickr. On October 16, 2007, Yahoo! announced that they would no longer provide support or perform bug fixes on Yahoo! 360° as they intended to abandon it in early 2008 in favor of a "universal profile" that will be similar to their Mash experimental system.[25]
Content Yahoo! partners with numerous content providers in products such as Yahoo! Sports, Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! Music, Yahoo! Movies, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Answers and Yahoo! Games to provide media content and news. Yahoo! also provides a personalization service, My Yahoo!, which enables users to combine their favorite Yahoo! features, content feeds and information onto a single page.
Yahoo! also introduced its Internet search system, called oneSearch, developed for mobile phones on March 20, 2007. 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, along with 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.
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! Publisher Network is an advertising tool for online publishers to place advertisements relevant to their content to monetize their websites.[31]
Yahoo! launched its new Internet advertisement sales system on February 5, 2007, called Panama. It allows advertisers to bid for search terms based on their popularity to display their ads on search results pages. The system takes bids, ad quality, clickthrough rates and other factors into consideration in determining how ads are ranked on search results pages. 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.[32]
On April 7, 2008, Yahoo! announced APT from Yahoo!, which was originally called AMP! from Yahoo!,[33] an online advertising management platform.[34] The platform seeks to simplify advertising sales by unifying buyer and seller markets. The service was launched in September 2008.[35]
In September 2011, Yahoo formed an ad selling strategic partnership with 2 of its top competitors, AOL and Microsoft.[36]
Go Daddy
Go Daddy is an Internet domain registrar and Web hosting company that also sells e-business related software and services. In 2010, it reached more than 45 million domain names under management.[2][3] Go Daddy is currently the largest ICANN-accredited registrar in the world, and is four times the size of its closest competitor.[4]
Go Daddy started advertising in the Super Bowl in 2005. Since then, the company expanded its marketing to include sports sponsorships.[5][6]
Go Daddy filed for an IPO in 2006, but later canceled it, due to "market uncertainties".[7] In 2011, Go Daddy confirmed that KKR, Silver Lake Partners and Technology Crossover Ventures had closed a private equity deal.
History Go Daddy was founded in 1997 as Jomax Technologies by Bob Parsons, who previously founded the software development company Parsons Technology, Inc. The company changed its name to Go Daddy in 1999 when a group of employees were brainstorming on a more memorable name than Jomax Technologies. Someone said, "How about Big Daddy?" A quick check revealed that the Internet domain of that name was taken. Then Parsons said, "How about Go Daddy?" The name was available, so he bought it.[8] Executive Chairman and Founder Bob Parsons states the company stuck with the name because it made people smile and remember it.[8]
Go Daddy has grown to become the largest ICANN-accredited registrar on the Internet.[9] In 2001, soon after Network Solutions was no longer the only place to register a domain, Go Daddy was approximately the same size as competitors Dotster and eNom.[10] In April 2005, it surpassed Network Solutions in market share in terms of total domain names registered.
In 2002, Go Daddy sued VeriSign for domain slamming[11] and again in 2003 over its Site Finder service.[12] This latter suit caused controversy over VeriSign's role as the sole maintainer of the .com and the .net top-level domains. VeriSign shut down Site Finder after receiving a letter from ICANN ordering it to comply with a request to disable the service.[13] In 2006, Go Daddy was sued by Web.com for patent infringement.[14][15]
In 2007 and 2008, the company lobbied in favor of legislation that would crack down on unscrupulous online pharmacies and child predators.[16][17]
In March 2010, Go Daddy stopped registering .cn domains (China) due to the high amount of personal information that is required to register in that country. Some called it a public relations campaign, since it closely followed Google's revolt in China.[18]
Awards In 2012, Go Daddy was recognized as a Fortune 100 “Best Companies to Work For” honoree.[19] Go Daddy was selected for its outstanding benefits, unique perks, diversity and company camaraderie [20] Go Daddy is the only company headquartered in Arizona to be ranked on the prestigious 2012 list.[21]
In 2012, Go Daddy was honored with a Gold Stevie Award for the "Customer Service Department of the Year in Computer Services." [22]
In 2012, Go Daddy was voted "Best Registrar" in Domain Name Wire’s annual survey, claiming 43 percent of the vote. [23]
In 2011, Go Daddy was honored as the Best Security Team by SC Magazine. [31] The SC Magazine Awards were organized to honor the professionals, companies and products that help fend off the myriad of security threats confronted in today's corporate world. [32] Go Daddy was also a 2012 finalist. [33]
In 2010, Go Daddy ranked as one of three finalists in the BBB of Great Arizona Business Ethics Awards. BBB's Board of Directors and Foundation established the BBB Business Ethics Awards to recognize those firms whose business practices and related activities exemplify the BBB's mission and principles and to ensure the marketplace remains fair and honorable.[34]
Marketing Chairman and Founder Bob Parsons refers to the marketing as "GoDaddy-esque" which he describes as "fun, edgy, and a bit inappropriate".[35] Most of Go Daddy's early television ads starred former WWE Diva Candice Michelle, in some sort of sexual-related theme. She has been referred to as "Miss GoDaddy.com" or "The Go Daddy Girl" by fans and on WWE television shows, where she also does the "Go Daddy Dance" (twirling her arms around her body while slowly turning) as part of her wrestling gimmick.
In 2006, Go Daddy began sponsoring IndyCar driver Danica Patrick, who subsequently joined the "Go Daddy Girl" lineup and began playing a prominent role in the company's commercials. In March 2009, Go Daddy announced professional poker player Vanessa Rousso as the newest Go Daddy Girl.[36] Vanessa competed in the Go Daddy sponsored NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship the same month, finishing second and making history by being the first woman to make it to the finals.[37] Also in March 2009, Go Daddy added pro-golfer Anna Rawson, bringing the Go Daddy Girl spokeswomen count to four. She is edgy, she is fun, she is hotter than firecrackers, she is very clever and everything we look for in a Go Daddy Girl, Executive Chairman and Founder Bob Parsons said of Rawson at a news conference in Phoenix.[38] In August 2009, another Go Daddy Girl was announced. A Russian native, Marina Orlova is an online linguist, explaining the origin of words on her HotforWords.com Web site. A New Yorker magazine blogger called her the sexiest philologist in the world.[39][40]
In 2010, Go Daddy announced it is adding "America's Toughest Trainer" Jillian Michaels as a Go Daddy Girl. Michaels joins race car driver Danica Patrick as a Go Daddy Girl, a move that Executive Chairman and Founder Bob Parsons said should attract new customers.[41] Michaels is a well-known celebrity, famous for her role as a health and wellness coach on NBC's hit show, "The Biggest Loser".[42]
An order was placed with Orange County Choppers for a custom bike to raise contributions for charity and was revealed in Miami, Florida, and featured the models Candice and Danica. The episode was documented by the reality show American Chopper episode number 82.[43]
Go Daddy started advertising in the Super Bowl in 2005. Since then, the company expanded its marketing to include sports sponsorships.[5][6]
Go Daddy filed for an IPO in 2006, but later canceled it, due to "market uncertainties".[7] In 2011, Go Daddy confirmed that KKR, Silver Lake Partners and Technology Crossover Ventures had closed a private equity deal.
History Go Daddy was founded in 1997 as Jomax Technologies by Bob Parsons, who previously founded the software development company Parsons Technology, Inc. The company changed its name to Go Daddy in 1999 when a group of employees were brainstorming on a more memorable name than Jomax Technologies. Someone said, "How about Big Daddy?" A quick check revealed that the Internet domain of that name was taken. Then Parsons said, "How about Go Daddy?" The name was available, so he bought it.[8] Executive Chairman and Founder Bob Parsons states the company stuck with the name because it made people smile and remember it.[8]
Go Daddy has grown to become the largest ICANN-accredited registrar on the Internet.[9] In 2001, soon after Network Solutions was no longer the only place to register a domain, Go Daddy was approximately the same size as competitors Dotster and eNom.[10] In April 2005, it surpassed Network Solutions in market share in terms of total domain names registered.
In 2002, Go Daddy sued VeriSign for domain slamming[11] and again in 2003 over its Site Finder service.[12] This latter suit caused controversy over VeriSign's role as the sole maintainer of the .com and the .net top-level domains. VeriSign shut down Site Finder after receiving a letter from ICANN ordering it to comply with a request to disable the service.[13] In 2006, Go Daddy was sued by Web.com for patent infringement.[14][15]
In 2007 and 2008, the company lobbied in favor of legislation that would crack down on unscrupulous online pharmacies and child predators.[16][17]
In March 2010, Go Daddy stopped registering .cn domains (China) due to the high amount of personal information that is required to register in that country. Some called it a public relations campaign, since it closely followed Google's revolt in China.[18]
Awards In 2012, Go Daddy was recognized as a Fortune 100 “Best Companies to Work For” honoree.[19] Go Daddy was selected for its outstanding benefits, unique perks, diversity and company camaraderie [20] Go Daddy is the only company headquartered in Arizona to be ranked on the prestigious 2012 list.[21]
In 2012, Go Daddy was honored with a Gold Stevie Award for the "Customer Service Department of the Year in Computer Services." [22]
In 2012, Go Daddy was voted "Best Registrar" in Domain Name Wire’s annual survey, claiming 43 percent of the vote. [23]
In 2011, Go Daddy was honored as the Best Security Team by SC Magazine. [31] The SC Magazine Awards were organized to honor the professionals, companies and products that help fend off the myriad of security threats confronted in today's corporate world. [32] Go Daddy was also a 2012 finalist. [33]
In 2010, Go Daddy ranked as one of three finalists in the BBB of Great Arizona Business Ethics Awards. BBB's Board of Directors and Foundation established the BBB Business Ethics Awards to recognize those firms whose business practices and related activities exemplify the BBB's mission and principles and to ensure the marketplace remains fair and honorable.[34]
Marketing Chairman and Founder Bob Parsons refers to the marketing as "GoDaddy-esque" which he describes as "fun, edgy, and a bit inappropriate".[35] Most of Go Daddy's early television ads starred former WWE Diva Candice Michelle, in some sort of sexual-related theme. She has been referred to as "Miss GoDaddy.com" or "The Go Daddy Girl" by fans and on WWE television shows, where she also does the "Go Daddy Dance" (twirling her arms around her body while slowly turning) as part of her wrestling gimmick.
In 2006, Go Daddy began sponsoring IndyCar driver Danica Patrick, who subsequently joined the "Go Daddy Girl" lineup and began playing a prominent role in the company's commercials. In March 2009, Go Daddy announced professional poker player Vanessa Rousso as the newest Go Daddy Girl.[36] Vanessa competed in the Go Daddy sponsored NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship the same month, finishing second and making history by being the first woman to make it to the finals.[37] Also in March 2009, Go Daddy added pro-golfer Anna Rawson, bringing the Go Daddy Girl spokeswomen count to four. She is edgy, she is fun, she is hotter than firecrackers, she is very clever and everything we look for in a Go Daddy Girl, Executive Chairman and Founder Bob Parsons said of Rawson at a news conference in Phoenix.[38] In August 2009, another Go Daddy Girl was announced. A Russian native, Marina Orlova is an online linguist, explaining the origin of words on her HotforWords.com Web site. A New Yorker magazine blogger called her the sexiest philologist in the world.[39][40]
In 2010, Go Daddy announced it is adding "America's Toughest Trainer" Jillian Michaels as a Go Daddy Girl. Michaels joins race car driver Danica Patrick as a Go Daddy Girl, a move that Executive Chairman and Founder Bob Parsons said should attract new customers.[41] Michaels is a well-known celebrity, famous for her role as a health and wellness coach on NBC's hit show, "The Biggest Loser".[42]
An order was placed with Orange County Choppers for a custom bike to raise contributions for charity and was revealed in Miami, Florida, and featured the models Candice and Danica. The episode was documented by the reality show American Chopper episode number 82.[43]
AOL
AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL, previously known as America Online, stylized as "Aol." but commonly pronounced as an initialism) is an American global Internet services and media company.[3][4] AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York.[5][6] Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services.[7] AOL is headquartered in New York City, but has many offices throughout cities in North America, such as Atlanta, Baltimore, Beverly Hills, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Dulles, Mountain View, San Francisco, and Toronto. London and Tokyo are its foreign offices. As of December 2011, it serves 3.3 million paid subscribers.[citation needed]
AOL is best known for its online software suite, also called AOL, that allowed customers to access the world's largest "walled garden" online community and eventually reach out to the Internet as a whole. At its prime, AOL's membership was over 30 million members worldwide,[8] most of whom accessed the AOL service through the AOL software suite. The company has claimed that it had 34 million subscribers at its peak, although an undisclosed portion were using free hours.[9]
In 2000 AOL and Time Warner merged under the name AOL Time Warner. The merger was not fruitful and on May 28, 2009, Time Warner announced that it would spin off AOL into a separate public company. The spinoff occurred on December 9, 2009,[10] ending the eight-year relationship between the two companies.[11]
On August 2, 2006, AOL announced a plan to offer "many" of its services free, with or without an AOL Internet connection."[122]
AOL is best known for its online software suite, also called AOL, that allowed customers to access the world's largest "walled garden" online community and eventually reach out to the Internet as a whole. At its prime, AOL's membership was over 30 million members worldwide,[8] most of whom accessed the AOL service through the AOL software suite. The company has claimed that it had 34 million subscribers at its peak, although an undisclosed portion were using free hours.[9]
In 2000 AOL and Time Warner merged under the name AOL Time Warner. The merger was not fruitful and on May 28, 2009, Time Warner announced that it would spin off AOL into a separate public company. The spinoff occurred on December 9, 2009,[10] ending the eight-year relationship between the two companies.[11]
On August 2, 2006, AOL announced a plan to offer "many" of its services free, with or without an AOL Internet connection."[122]
- Among the announced plans were free email services. AOL kept its promise by launching an email service free of cost, and with unlimited storage space.
- AIM (AOL Instant Messenger Chat rooms were included with the free service, but users were required to verify the age of an account created under the free plan using a credit card. AOL charged $1 to the credit card provided and then immediately refunded the charge.
- AOL Video[123] featured professional content and allowed users to upload videos as well. The original user-orientated video service was called UnCut Video, but was abandoned.
- AOL Local comprised its CityGuide,[124] Yellow Pages[125] and Local Search[126] services to help users find local information like restaurants, local events, and directory listings.
- AOL News is a free news website available to the public.
- AOL provided free usage of a custom domain name, which it called an AOL My eAddress. This allowed users to create an email address like '[email protected]', and allowed up to 100 other addresses to be created. These email accounts could be accessed in a manner similar to other AOL and AIM email accounts.
- Xdrive was a service offered by AOL which allowed users to back up their files over the Internet.[127] It was closed on January 12, 2009.[128]
- Games.com was an online page featuring browser-based games. it is part of the main AOL website, under games.
- AOLAnswers, a Q&A website service formerly known as Yedda.
- Shortcuts.com is a coupon site.[129]