Yahoo, one of the internet's earliest names, is searching for a new path forward. Three decades after its founding, the company is turning its long history into an asset — both for marketing to Generation Z and for gathering data to train artificial intelligence. The question is whether Yahoo can restart its growth engine amid formidable AI rivals such as OpenAI and Anthropic.
In an interview with the Financial Times published on the 23rd, Yahoo Chief Executive Officer Jim Lanzone described the company as the internet's "OG," or original gangster. "In the AI era, Gen Z feels a familiarity and comfort with the OG," the CEO said. While the current AI era often runs on the assumption that models built by developers in their teens and twenties are the ones stunning the world, change that moves too fast breeds unease. Lanzone stressed that "as trust in some newer tech companies weakens, familiarity is working as an advantage" for older firms. In other words, Yahoo — founded in 1994 and now 32 years old — is packaging its history as a "vintage" appeal to reach Gen Z.
Yahoo was both a symbol of the late-1990s dot-com boom and of the dot-com bubble. At its peak in January 2000, when Yahoo was a listed company, its market capitalization soared to $125 billion (about 172.8 trillion won at current exchange rates). But just two months later, in March 2000, the dot-com frenzy began to deflate. By September 2001, only a year and eight months on, Yahoo's shares had fallen more than 93% from their peak.
Yahoo still counts hundreds of millions of users today, offering internet services such as Yahoo Finance, Sports, News and email. But these services are now on the margins. The FT noted that "Yahoo remains a challenger in search and other core internet services led by Google and AI-driven rivals."
Yahoo plans to launch an AI-based service called Scout by the end of the year. The advantage Yahoo cites for Scout is the user data it has accumulated over 30 years. Lanzone explained that "proprietary search data, user data and content built up over decades" are the weapon that will set it apart from other AI products. Yahoo bars rival AI models from using its content for training. "All that data will be the ingredients for Yahoo's 'chefs' to serve up great answers," he said.
Yahoo was acquired by private equity firm Apollo Global Management for about $5 billion in 2021. The FT reported that Wall Street sees Yahoo as a potential candidate for an initial public offering (IPO) or sale as early as next year. "We are working to become a growth company again," Lanzone said.
