Yahoo’s Canadian Roots
As an increasing number of people start to write epitaphs for Yahoo as a standalone company, you’re starting to see a lot of nostalgic stories on how David Filo and Jerry Yang started the company in 1994 from the bowels of Stanford University.
So what’s the Canadian connection?
Although few people remember it, Waterloo, Ont.-based Open Text was Yahoo’s early search engine partner. Yup, Open Text was originally a search player. Here’s what Open Text CEO Tom Jenkins had to say about the deal when it was announced in 1995:
“As the premiere guide to the online world, Yahoo! is doing exactly what our Web Search Server technology was designed to accomplish - satisfy the needs of consumers and working professionals by enabling them to more easily navigate through the Internet and gather meaningful information. We’ve established a close working relationship to drive the tight integration of Yahoo! with our Web Search Server OEM took kit. Together, we’re giving Internet users an unbeatable combination of directory-based and intelligent full-text searching unavailable anywhere else on the Net.”
As well, Open Text bought a stake in Yahoo in 1995.
So, what happened? Well, Open Text decided enterprise software had more potential than the search engine market (ha!) so it bailed out of the search business, and Yahoo jumped into bed with Altavista. By 1997, Open Text was completely out of the search game.
More: The Wall St. Journal isn’t being nostalgic at all about Yahoo, advising investors to sell their shares now (”take the money and run”).
February 5th, 2008 at 10:19 am
I remember it. I was working on the search engine at Open Text at the time when it was just 20 employees. I was actually at the launch with Tom and Jerry Yang on September 22, 1995 - my wedding anniversary coincidentally.
Tim Bray, one of the founders of Open Text (and co-creator of XML) created the first web search engine - the Open Text Web Index - and I still have a sticker for it on my laptop.
February 5th, 2008 at 10:22 am
Larry: Thanks for the insight. Hindsight is always 20/20 but it is interesting to think about what might have happened.
Mark
February 5th, 2008 at 10:26 am
Actually, while I was there I also worked with Scott Kurnit in the initial discussions and founding of The Mining Company, later About.com.
February 6th, 2008 at 11:35 am
Don’t forget Flickr, which became the foundation and entry point for YHOO’s social networking efforts.