Yahoo — Key Facts
| Founded | January 1995 |
| Founders | Jerry Yang & David Filo (Stanford University) |
| Current Owner | Apollo Global Management (~90%) |
| Headquarters | New York City (formerly Sunnyvale, CA) |
| CEO | Jim Lanzone |
| Key Products | Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports, Yahoo News |
Yahoo is one of the most recognizable internet brands in history — a pioneering web portal and search engine that defined the early internet era. Founded at Stanford University in 1995, Yahoo was once worth over $125 billion at its peak. Today, Yahoo is owned by private equity firm Apollo Global Management and continues to operate a suite of popular media and digital properties reaching hundreds of millions of monthly users.
Who Owns Yahoo?
Yahoo is owned by Apollo Global Management, a major US private equity firm. Apollo acquired Yahoo from Verizon in September 2021 for approximately $5 billion. Apollo holds approximately 90% of Yahoo, with Verizon retaining a 10% stake. Yahoo’s CEO is Jim Lanzone, who previously led CBS Interactive. Apollo’s investment thesis is that Yahoo’s portfolio of media brands — Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports, Yahoo News, TechCrunch, and Engadget — has durable audience value that can be monetized more effectively under private ownership and with a more focused digital media strategy.
Yahoo’s Ownership History
Yahoo was founded in January 1995 by Stanford PhD students Jerry Yang and David Filo as “Jerry and David’s Guide to the World Wide Web.” It quickly became the dominant internet portal of the 1990s and went public in April 1996. Yahoo turned down Microsoft’s $44.6 billion acquisition offer in 2008 — a decision widely regarded as one of the biggest strategic mistakes in tech history. The company’s core internet business was acquired by Verizon Communications in June 2017 for approximately $4.48 billion, combined with AOL to form “Oath” (later rebranded as Verizon Media). Apollo then acquired Verizon Media in 2021, rebranding it back to Yahoo.
Yahoo Today
Under Apollo’s ownership, Yahoo has refocused on its core digital media properties. Yahoo Finance remains one of the most visited financial news and data sites in the world. Yahoo Mail continues to serve hundreds of millions of users globally. Yahoo Sports is a leading sports news destination. The company has divested or shut down several non-core brands and is focused on advertising revenue, subscriptions, and licensed data products.
