What is Yahoo’s stock price, and are they publicly traded? Investors cannot purchase shares of Yahoo because it was delisted in 2017. Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) is a search engine stock that traders can invest in.
With millions of users each month, the popular web services provider Yahoo is one of the oldest names on the internet. In its heyday, the company raised a mind-boggling 1 billion dollars during its IPO. Many who held Yahoo Stock became millionaires overnight. But what’s happening now with Yahoo stock?
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For any of you old enough to remember the pains of dial-up internet, you probably remember the mind-boggling maze of the World Wide Web. For those unfamiliar, I liken it to driving in rush hour traffic in India, no lanes, six lanes of traffic squeezed into three, some traffic lights, a road sign or two, just a complete free-for-all. (Side note: no offense to India, but I’ve been there and lived and managed to survive the traffic). It’s mind-boggling.
Now that you have that lovely picture imagine the internet in 1994. At this time, thousands of websites were created daily, with little way to navigate them.
While seeking to make sense of this chaos, Filo and Yang decided to make their database for the web.
With many late nights and, I’m sure, headaches, Jerry and David compiled a list of their favorite websites for the Yahoo database. In the beginning, the list was manageable.
But it quickly morphed into a giant and became too large to navigate easily. The list was divided into categories (think traffic lanes), which were soon split into subcategories (think collector lanes on highways).
Eventually, the database grew and evolved into the context-based search engine it is today. You can search Epic Games stock as well as Yahoo stock.
Meaning Behind Yahoo’s Name
I bet you didn’t know that Yahoo is a backronym for “Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle.” Neither did I. David Filo and Jerry Yang are the brainchildren behind this rather odd and long name.
In 1994, these two engineering Ph. D candidates at Stanford University decided their search engine needed a facelift. Their original name, “David’s and Jerry’s Guide to the World Wide Web,” was, let’s say, less than inspiring.
Where did they turn? No other than the trusted dictionary, I chose “yahoo” because it was a word that pretty much anyone could say and remember.
Fast-forward a few years, and the longer title, “Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle,” was decided. It’s quite clever.
It perfectly described Filo and Yang’s search engine: “Hierarchical.” It described the Yahoo database arrangement perfectly: in directory layers.
Secondly, “officious” as mainly it was office workers using the database. Finally, “oracle” meant “source of truth and wisdom.”
You can look for the best real estate books or how to cook zucchini on Yahoo. You can even ask if there’s Yahoo stock.
Yahoo's Legendary Growth
Like many things, the Yahoo audience grew mostly by word of mouth. So much so that in just one year, the Stanford network became so clogged with Yahoo web search traffic that Filo and Yang had to move their Yahoo database to the offices of Netscape.
Luckily for David and Jerry, they realized an opportunity was staring them. With that, they incorporated Yahoo in March 1995 and left school to work full-time at Yahoo.
One month later, Yahoo received a $2 million initial investment from Sequoia Capital investors. After that, Yahoo’s money and success continued.
As an example, their IPO in April of 1996 equaled about $1 billion for the company. Yahoo stock was off the charts then.
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Yahoo Stock - Interesting Facts
- On IPO day, April 12, 1996, Yahoo stock opened and shot up to $43 within an hour. In total, 8.5 million shares traded, which equaled $1 billion for the company.
- Yahoo! stocks highest closing was at $118.75 a share on January 3, 2000
- David Filo and Jerry Yang never returned to finish their Ph.D. studies. However, that didn’t hamper their success; they’re both ranked by Forbes as two of the 400 wealthiest men in America.
- Yahoo uses Bing technology for search and is now the #5 ranked URL in the U.S. regarding web traffic.
- Verizon completed its acquisition of Yahoo in 2017, and Yahoo is no longer an independent company.
A Fall From Grace
Monday, June 19, 2017, marked the official end of Yahoo! as a publicly-traded company. After paying $4.5 billion, Verizon ($VZ) is now the (proud?) owner of the once-popular website and most of its assets.
With the acquisition, Yahoo completed its journey from one of the world’s biggest internet companies to just another media brand. Verizon bought Yahoo for the sole purpose of combining it with AOL, another aging internet relic. Yahoo and AOL combined into a company called OATH.
Sadly, only a year and a half after it built Oath from the assets of the communications giants Yahoo and AOL, Verizon indicated they’re virtually worthless.
Stock Signals & Alerts
Yahoo Stock Competitor - Verizon (VZ)
Since you can’t buy Yahoo stock, the next best thing would be to buy their owner, Verizon (NYSE: VZ). Or is it? When you crunch the numbers, Verizon delivered.
Over the past five years, they had total returns of over 50%, and they still trade at a rate of less than 12 times their forward earnings. But in this pandemic-driven volatile market, is it still a good buy?
Bullish Bears is not here to give you investing advice, but Verizon (NYSE: VZ), the second-largest wireless carrier in the U.S.
For those conservative investors, Verizon is often considered a stable income investment. For starters, they’ve raised their dividend annually for 13 straight years.
Additionally, they pay a forward yield of 4.3%, and last year, they only spent a meager 57% of their free cash flow on that payout. Let the numbers speak for themselves, and do your due diligence before purchasing stock in any company.
Mobile Service
To infuse life into Yahoo, Verizon is trying to excite customers with a new “Yahoo Mobile” service. Its simplest form combines Verizon’s 4G LTE network with Yahoo mail (for some reason). In a statement released, Verizon indicated that “Yahoo Mobile will bring together the capabilities of Verizon’s 4G LTE network and Yahoo’s trusted brand to create the best experience and connectivity for consumers.”
I doubt Yahoo Mobile will do much to infuse life into Yahoo’s diminished reputation. But Verizon seems excited about it, throwing the word “synergy” around. Their success waits to be seen.
Final Thoughts
Yahoo stock is no longer available to trade. However, the stock market is full of other stocks to trade. As a result, you can trade many stocks that can help you grow your brokerage account.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yahoo is now called Verizon Media. The name change took place on May 3, 2021.
Investors cannot buy Yahoo stock because Yahoo is no longer an independent company. They are owned by Verizon (VZ).
It's possible that Yahoo plans to go public again. Yahoo CEO Jim Lanzone said that the tech company is profitable and could make a return to the stock market.
Yahoo Finance Stock Screener is an easy-to-use free stock-screening tool that offers a clean interface and a wide selection of filters. It’s one of the only free tools that can help you find sustainable ESG stocks.
On January 3, 2000, Yahoo’s stock price reached a record high of US$475.00 per share (the pre-split price).
