Infoseek
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Infoseek (also known as the "big yellow"<ref name=":2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>) was an American internet search engine founded in 1994 by Steve Kirsch.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Infoseek was originally operated by the Infoseek Corporation, headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.<ref>"Contacting Infoseek." Infoseek. July 2, 1997. Retrieved on January 20, 2010.</ref> Infoseek was bought by The Walt Disney Company in 1999,<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and the technology was merged with that of the Disney-acquired Starwave to form the Go.com network.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
HistoryEdit
Template:More citations needed Infoseek launched in January 1994 as a pay-for-use service.<ref name=":2" /> The service was dropped in August 1994 and Infoseek was relaunched as Infoseek search in February 1995.<ref name=":2" />
In 1995, Infoseek struck a deal with Netscape to become the default search engine on Netscape Navigator.<ref name=":2" />
On June 11, 1996, Infoseek's initial public offering started trading on Nasdaq (under the name SEEK) at $12 per share.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
By September 1997, Infoseek had 7.3 million visitors per month.<ref name="source">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It was the 7th most visited website that year (5th in 1996) and 10th in 1998.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Infoseek acquired the WebChat Broadcasting System in April 1998.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 1998, Disney purchased a 43% stake of Infoseek, and incorporated the site into its various media businesses. Around the same time, Disney acquired the Starwave Corporation, which included ESPN.com and ABCNews.com.<ref name=":2" /> In 1999, Disney acquired the remaining Infoseek stock it didn't own. Disney bundled its Starwave properties and Infoseek and formed the GO.com portal.<ref name=":0" />
Infoseek was among the first search engines to sell advertising on a CPM, Cost Per Thousand Impressions, basis.<ref name=":2" /> In 1997, the first Cost Per Click programs, as well as the precursor to pop-ups called daughter windows, was sold to Grey Advertising for a Procter & Gamble Pampers campaign.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 1998, Infoseek was the first internet company to develop and launch behavioral targeting via its UltraMatch targeting algorithms.Template:Citation needed In 1999, Infoseek engineer Li Yanhong moved to Beijing, China and co-founded the search engine Baidu.<ref name=":2" /> 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.<ref name=":1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Post-demiseEdit
Infoseek's Ultraseek Server software technology, an enterprise search engine product, was sold in 2000 to Inktomi.<ref name=":2" /> Under Inktomi, Ultraseek Server was renamed "Inktomi Enterprise Search". In December 2002 (prior to the Yahoo! 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.
Rakuten agreed in November 2000 to acquire Infoseek Japan for $81 million.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In December 2005, Verity was acquired by Autonomy 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 after Autonomy was acquired by Hewlett-Packard (HP) in October 2011.
Domain nameEdit
The "infoseek.com" domain name redirects to "go.com" and the Infoseek brand name is no longer used in North America.<ref name=":2" /> However, the Australian domain and the Japanese domain still operate with the Infoseek name.<ref name=":2" /> The Japanese domain name now operates as a web portal known as "Rakuten Infoseek".
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
- Infoseek (Archive)
- Infoseek Australia
- Infoseek Japan