A Brief History of Yahoo Acquisitions

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You know what really bothers me about the whole Yahoo-Flickr deal? Take a look at each of these sites:

All of them were bought by Yahoo sometime between the late 1990s and early 2000s. Do you sense a common thread? What happened to each one after being bought by Yahoo? I’m not aware that Yahoo has ever allowed any of its acquisitions to maintain a unique identity. What, then, does that bode for Flickr?

Update, Feb 2007: This entry has been linked a couple of times (okay, once by me) in the official login merge thread, and I’ve added links to a few more acquired companies that have been brought up. It really is looking unavoidable that Flickr will be turned into a subdomain within the next few years. They better not break my <img> links. Also see the list here and the Wikipedia list of Yahoo acquisitions.

Update, 2008: Yum, crow!

Comments

  1. Bam says:
    2005-09-22 at 18:56

    That shouldn’t be surprising at all; they’re Yahoo properties now, so it’s in their business interests to make their acquisitions fit in as just another Yahoo service.

    What I think you’re really getting at is that rather than eye each of these acquisitions as merely a means to get technology or establish a presence in a particular type of service, it’d be nice if they could build upon the existing user base and community rather than pave over it with the Generic Yahoo Experience. (Such as it is.)

    Unfortunately, even since the old just-a-directory days, I don’t recall Yahoo ever having anything resembling a personality, so you’d best go find another photo-sharing venue. :-(

  2. Raffy says:
    2005-09-22 at 20:26

    While a unique identity may be nice to have (if only to bulk up the site’s hip value), just pray that Flickr’s service doesn’t go downhill in Yahoo’s clutches.

    Wait, didn’t Yahoo take over Geocities? Never mind.

    Speaking of alternate photo-sharing services, ever look up Zoto.com?

  3. Phil says:
    2005-09-23 at 03:26

    Geocities never really took off in the way that Flickr did in such a short time. Maybe Flickr will do better. Let’s wait and see. :-)

  4. Daniel says:
    2005-09-28 at 23:38

    I have a snapshot of eGroups’ building in San Francisco before they were acquired by Yahoo. I’ll post it online one of these days.