ZDNet.co.uk (http://news.zdnet.co.uk) announced on October 8 that, speaking during the Web 2.0 conference, the Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang told Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page to relish their success. Although Yang's company and its archrival Google are in an escalating war to control the commercial search business, Yang still gave them kudos for making an impact on the Internet. Yang advised the Google founders to enjoy it while it lasts, and admitted that to see what they've done is truly amazing. Yang also told Brin and Page that he hopes they enjoy it because starting a company to this stage is a tribute to their vision and their leadership.
Like Brin and Page, Yang and fellow Stanford classmate David Filo started a search engine that has become one of the most visited places on the Internet. But Yang pointed out that one difference between the companies is that Google had more time to germinate before going public, while Yahoo went public a year after the company launched. Yahoo launched in 1995 and went public in 1996, while Google went public as a highly profitable company and resisted an IPO for many years. But back in 1996 Internet companies could go public to raise capital without showing profitability. Other search engine competitors such as Excite, Lycos and Infoseek were breathing down Yahoo’s neck as well.
