Yahoo shuts down its $3.25bn web host GeoCities

YAHOO has closed GeoCities, a free web hosting service that it bought for more than $US3 billion ($3.25 billion) at the height of the dot-com boom.

“We have enjoyed hosting websites created by Yahoo users all over the world, and we’re proud of the community you’ve built,” the California-based internet pioneer said.

“However, we have decided to focus on helping our customers explore and build relationships online in other ways.”

Yahoo said GeoCities would no longer be available and recommended GeoCities refugees set up new online homes at its paid web hosting service, with an introductory offer of just $US5 ($5.40) for the first 12 months.

To mark the occasion, popular web comic xkcd changed its layout to resemble a stereotypical GeoCities webpage complete with scrolling text , animated icons, and broken image links.

The closure of GeoCities came a week after Yahoo! reported that aggressive cost-cutting helped it more than triple its net profit despite a 12 per cent decline in revenue in its third quarter.

Yahoo said net profit soared more than 244 per cent in the quarter to $US186 million ($201 million), or 13 cents per share, from $US54 million ($58 million), or four cents per share, a year ago, easily surpassing analysts’ forecasts.

Yahoo has reduced its headcount by 2000 during the past year and presently has 13,200 employees.

It announced the planned closure of GeoCities early this year, saying it was “increasing investment in some areas while scaling back in others”.

GeoCities was founded in 1994 as Beverly Hills Internet and bought by Yahoo during the infamous dot-com boom in Silicon Valley.

It provided people with tools to build interactive websites and eventually added chat forums and other community-oriented features.

Yahoo eventually added fee-paying premium services in an effort to make money at GeoCities, which had trouble retaining users and getting profitable.