The story
Two Stanford PhD students kept a list of their favorite websites, and it became the front door of the early web. It passed on buying Google, turned down Microsoft, and its core business was eventually sold to Verizon.
No. 012 · 1994 · Stanford
Yahoo
Two grad students bookmarked the entire internet.
Passed on buying Google
Make my startup a legend- 1 Stanford, 1994. Two PhDs avoiding their theses.
- 2 They keep a list of favorite websites.
- 3 Everyone starts using the list.
- 4 A silly backronym: Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle.
- 5 Humans sort the web by hand.
- 6 Google is offered to them. They pass.
- 7 Later they'd reject Microsoft's billions too.
- 8 Sold for parts. The list lived on.
- Founders
- Jerry Yang and David Filo
- Founded
- 1994, Stanford
- What they do
- Web portal, search and email.