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Infoseek

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Infoseek
Type of site
Search engine
Successor(s)Go
Area servedWorldwide
OwnerDisney Interactive
URLinfoseek
CommercialMixed
LaunchedJanuary 1994;30 years ago(1994-01)
Current statusClosed as of 1999

Infoseek(also known as the "big yellow"[1]) was an American internetsearch enginefounded in1994bySteve Kirsch.[2]

Infoseek was originally operated by theInfoseek Corporation,headquartered inSunnyvale, California.[3]Infoseek was bought byThe Walt Disney Companyin 1999,[4]and the technology was merged with that of the Disney-acquiredStarwaveto form theGonetwork.[5]

History

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Infoseek launched in January 1994 as a pay-for-use service.[1]The service was dropped in August 1994 and Infoseek was relaunched as Infoseek search in February 1995.[1]

In 1995, Infoseek struck a deal withNetscapeto become the default search engine onNetscape Navigator.[1]

On June 11, 1996, Infoseek'sinitial public offeringstarted trading onNasdaq(under the name SEEK) at $12 per share.[6]

By September 1997, Infoseek had 7.3 million visitors per month.[7]It was the 7th most visited website that year (5th in 1996) and 10th in 1998.[8]Infoseek acquired theWebChat Broadcasting Systemin April 1998.[9]

In 1998, Disney purchased a 43% stake of Infoseek, and incorporated the site into its various media businesses. Around the same time, Disney acquired theStarwaveCorporation, which included ESPN and ABCNews.[1]In 1999, Disney acquired the remaining Infoseek stock it didn't own. Disney bundled its Starwave properties and Infoseek and formed the GO portal.[4]

Infoseek was among the first search engines to sell advertising on aCPM,Cost Per Thousand Impressions, basis.[1]In 1997, the first Cost Per Click programs, as well as the precursor to pop-ups called daughter windows, was sold toGrey Advertisingfor aProcter & GamblePamperscampaign.[10]

In 1998, Infoseek was the first internet company to develop and launchbehavioral targetingvia its UltraMatch targeting algorithms.[citation needed]In 1999, Infoseek engineerLi Yanhongmoved toBeijing,Chinaand co-founded the search engineBaidu.[1]In February 2001, Disney decided to cancel the service and lay off all staff. Also in 2001, Bernt Wahl, Andy Bensky and 15 software engineers, all Infoseek employees, led a management buyout attempt from Disney but were ultimately rebuffed.[11]

Post-demise

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Infoseek's Ultraseek Server software technology, an enterprise search engine product, was sold in 2000 toInktomi.[1]Under Inktomi, Ultraseek Server was renamed "Inktomi Enterprise Search". In December 2002 (prior to theYahoo!acquisition of Inktomi), the Ultraseek product suite was sold to a competitor Verity Inc, who re-established the Ultraseek brand name and continued development of the product.

Rakutenagreed in November 2000 to acquire Infoseek Japan for $81 million.[12]

In December 2005, Verity was acquired byAutonomy PLC.Under Autonomy, Ultraseek ceased to be a stand-alone product and became a modular component under the IDOL platform. It continued to be developed and marketed as Autonomy's entry-level keyword-based site search offering until afterAutonomywas acquired byHewlett-Packard(HP) in October 2011.

Domain name

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The "infoseek"domain nameredirects to "go" and the Infoseek brand name is no longer used inNorth America.[1]However, theAustraliandomain and theJapanesedomain still operate with the Infoseek name.[1]The Japanese domain name now operates as a web portal known as "Rakuten Infoseek".

See also

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References

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  1. ^abcdefghij"Short History of Early Search Engines – The History of SEO".thehistoryofseo.Archivedfrom the original on 2019-01-21.Retrieved2019-02-03.
  2. ^"Kirsch Foundation About the Founders".kirschfoundation.org.Archivedfrom the original on 2017-11-02.Retrieved2018-03-11.
  3. ^"Contacting Infoseek."Infoseek. July 2, 1997. Retrieved on January 20, 2010.
  4. ^ab"Disney absorbs Infoseek - Jul. 12, 1999".money.cnn.Archivedfrom the original on 2018-03-08.Retrieved2018-03-11.
  5. ^"Mike Slade on 80s Microsoft, NeXT, Starwave and Steve Jobs' Return to Apple".Internet History Podcast.Archivedfrom the original on 2019-06-06.Retrieved2018-03-11.
  6. ^"Infoseek hits Wall Street".CNET.Archivedfrom the original on 2019-01-22.Retrieved2019-01-21.
  7. ^"Infoseek - a history (from WebSerch)".2009-05-01. Archived fromthe originalon May 1, 2009.Retrieved2018-03-11.
  8. ^"Infographic: Top 20 Most Popular Websites (1996-2013)".26 December 2014.Archivedfrom the original on 2019-01-10.Retrieved2019-01-09.
  9. ^"Infoseek to Buy WebChat Broadcasting".Los Angeles Times.Reuters. 1998-04-15.ISSN0458-3035.Archivedfrom the original on 2009-09-11.Retrieved2018-11-28.
  10. ^"CAMPAIGN INTERACTIVE: BEHIND THE HYPE/PROCTER & GAMBLE - P&G looks beyond banner ads to boost its web presence. The company is emerging as something of a leader as advertising on the net matures. By Alasdair Reid".campaignlive.co.uk.Retrieved2022-01-28.
  11. ^"Short History of Early Search Engines – The History of SEO".thehistoryofseo.Archivedfrom the original on 2018-03-23.Retrieved2018-03-11.
  12. ^Interactive, Nikkei Net (December 2000)."Rakuten Agrees to Acquire Infoseek Japan for $81 Million".Wall Street Journal.Archivedfrom the original on 2019-01-10.Retrieved2019-01-09.
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