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Yahoo buys GeoCities (1999)

money.cnn.com

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Re: Yahoo buys GeoCities (1999)

#51

Post by pitchups »

dougjoe wrote: post #33

i was a part of the team that bought GeoCities at Yahoo, and i think it wasn't as dumb of a deal as it looks on paper, because a) YHOO stock was so high at the time that the $3.8B wasn't actually all that dilutive, and b) buying GeoCities ensured Yahoo was the #1 destination online, and thus we could command a disproportionate share of ad revenue. If you wanna look at a really silly deal that Yahoo did, how about the…

>> how about the Broadcast.com deal? Billions for a bunch of servers... Well, it certainly made Mark Cuban a billionaire, if nothing else!

Re: Yahoo buys GeoCities (1999)

#52

Post by jasey »

jebeng wrote: post #27

Geocities was my first website! As long as no one ever sees it/knows it was me who made what was quite possibly the ugliest website in the world, all I'll have is fond memories.

Same with me.

I made a Limp bizkit fan site over several lunch times in high school.

I don't know what is more embarrassing, being a limpbizkit fan or using lunch breaks to create websites...

Re: Yahoo buys GeoCities (1999)

#53

Post by duaneb »

pavs wrote: post #35
hristov wrote: post #6

This is very relevant now because rumors are that Yahoo is about to buy Tumblr for over a billion dollars. If they only took care of Geocities they would not have to buy it all over again in Tumblr form.

How is this relevant? Different era. Different CEO. Different corporate culture. Different demography. Different way people use the internet. Vastly different size of users. Tumblr could very well die on its own without anyone's help. Last I heard it was not making any profit yet, and took huge amount of money from investors. In the long term, investors don't care how many users you have if you are not making much mo…

Relevant and different are not mutually exclusive.

Re: Yahoo buys GeoCities (1999)

#55

Post by duaneb »

gingerlime wrote: post #37

" In a separate announcement, GeoCities posted a net loss of $8.4 million, or 27 cents a share, for the fourth quarter ended, compared with losses of $3 million, or 14 cents a share in the year-ago period. Revenue for the three month period rose 341 percent to $7.5 million. For the year, the company lost $19.8 million, or 71 cents per share, compared to a net loss of $8.9 million, or 44 cents a share, in 1997. " and…

Ah Instagram, Facebook, twitter, tumblr... You really think that all the google ads you've seen in your life (let alone on a given site) add up to a return of $15? I'd be much more likely to give geocities $15 for a premium account than I would be to ever click on an ad.

This space can be lucrative, but every success is over the bodies of many failed companies. This phase we're in now is equally silly.

Re: Yahoo buys GeoCities (1999)

#56

Post by jacquesm »

If you had a site on geocities you can probably still get it from either the Archive team torrent or from http://reocities.com/ , simply append your old url. There is a 'self service' bit (see the FAQ) where you can archive your website and have a download link mailed to you.

It's been running for a few years now and gets approximately 35K unique visitors daily.

From a commercial point of view it is a complete failure but the emails from happy people that I keep getting about the project are more than enough payment.

Re: Yahoo buys GeoCities (1999)

#58

Post by duaneb »

jasey wrote: post #52
jebeng wrote: post #27

Geocities was my first website! As long as no one ever sees it/knows it was me who made what was quite possibly the ugliest website in the world, all I'll have is fond memories.

Same with me. I made a Limp bizkit fan site over several lunch times in high school. I don't know what is more embarrassing, being a limpbizkit fan or using lunch breaks to create websites...

I listen to Justin Timberlake now, 4th grade me would be disgusted.

Re: Yahoo buys GeoCities (1999)

#59

Post by pavs »

duaneb wrote: post #53
pavs wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is this relevant? Different era. Different CEO. Different corporate culture. Different demography. Different way people use the internet. Vastly different size of users. Tumblr could very well die on its own without anyone's help. Last I heard it was not making any profit yet, and took huge amount of money from investors. In the long term, investors don't care how many users you have if you are not making much mo…

Relevant and different are not mutually exclusive.

Its not relevant because there are different circumstances. Not because they are different.

Re: Yahoo buys GeoCities (1999)

#60

Post by prawn »

eurleif wrote: post #25
hristov wrote: post #6

This is very relevant now because rumors are that Yahoo is about to buy Tumblr for over a billion dollars. If they only took care of Geocities they would not have to buy it all over again in Tumblr form.

Geocities worked quite differently from Tumblr. How would you transition from one format to the other, without pissing off current users?

This wouldn't be perfect, but it would at least leverage Geocities a bit more than shutting it down:

Start Tumblr-style side venture. Pitch it to existing Geocities customers in various ways with advantages like shared logins and some semblance of import tool easing adoption. Let Tumblr roll on from that kick start. Eventually phase out or shut-down Geocities.

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