Yahoo was established by Jerry Yang and David Filo in January 1994 and was one of the pioneers of the early Internet era in the 1990s.

[10] However, founders Filo and Yang insist they mainly selected the name because they liked the slang definition of a "yahoo" (used by college students in David Filo's native Louisiana in the late 1980s and early 1990s to refer to an unsophisticated, rural Southerner): "rude, unsophisticated, uncouth.

[12][13][14][15] The site was a human-edited web directory, organized in a hierarchy, as opposed to a searchable index of pages.

[38][39][40][41] Carol Bartz, who had no previous experience in Internet advertising, replaced Yang as CEO in January 2009.

[42][43] In September 2011, after failing to meet targets, she was fired by chairman Roy J. Bostock; CFO Tim Morse was named as Interim CEO of the company.

[44][45] In April 2012, after the appointment of Scott Thompson as CEO, several key executives resigned, including chief product officer Blake Irving.

[46][47] On April 4, 2012, Yahoo announced 2,000 layoffs,[48] or about 14% of its 14,100 workers by the end of year, expected to save around $375 million annually.

[50] On May 13, 2012, Thompson was fired and was replaced on an interim basis by Ross Levinsohn, recently appointed head of Yahoo's new Media group.

[67] In August 2023, it was announced Yahoo had acquired the San Francisco-headquartered social investing platform, Commonstock.

[76] On July 25, 2016, Verizon Communications announced the acquisition of Yahoo's core Internet business for $4.83 billion.

Inc. which were not purchased by Verizon Communications were renamed Altaba, which was later liquidated, making a final distribution in October 2020.

[90][91] In November 2021, Yahoo announced that it was ending operations in mainland China due to the increasingly challenging business and legal environment.

The move followed mass layoffs from other tech giants including Google, Microsoft, Twitter, Inc, Meta, and Amazon.

[97] The United States indicted four men, including two employees of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), for their involvement in the hack.

[108] After some concerns over censorship of private emails regarding a website affiliated with Occupy Wall Street protests were raised, Yahoo responded with an apology and explained it as an accident.

[114] Yahoo announced television video partnerships in 2013 with Condé Nast,[115] WWE, ABC NEWS, and CNBC.

[116] Yahoo entered into a 10-year collaboration in 2014, as a founding partner of Levi's Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers.

[117] The National Basketball Association partnered with Yahoo Sports to stream games, offer virtual and augmented-reality fan experiences, and in 2018 NBA League Pass.

[126] Yahoo, the official partner for the September 2021 New York Fashion Week event also unveiled sponsorship for the Rebecca Minkoff collection via a NFT space.