New Delhi: Yahoo has now embarked on an ambitious bid to remake itself for a generation that has never known life before everything turned digital—Gen Z. The once-dominant internet portal that ruled the late 1990s and the early 2000s now has a new target, and it aims to hit the mark.
Founded in 1994, Yahoo was once synonymous with the internet boom but has since declined. Now, however, it is betting on a comeback to the digital scene with none other than AI. Yahoo CEO Jim Lanzone has announced the full rollout of Scout, the company’s newest AI-driven search engine. Yahoo plans to roll out Scout before the end of this year.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Lanzone stressed that Yahoo’s age was an asset rather than a liability. Yahoo’s long familiarity with the internet scene will most likely position its return well—Gen Z, who haven’t traditionally been Yahoo users, might respond to its credibility.
“We have complete data on both the content side and the user side, plus 30 years of search history—these will provide differentiated raw material for generating AI answers,” Lanzone told the Financial Times.
Yahoo also plans to monetise its AI-driven content and search results through advertising while simultaneously expanding consumer product lines like AlphaSpace, a retail investor platform launched earlier this year with market news and data, aimed at growing the DIY investor crowd.
Perhaps retro-credibility will revive Yahoo after all, if the theory that Gen Z loves anything retro holds. Lanzone says Yahoo has moved past its ‘transformation phase’ and still reaches hundreds of millions of users across sports, news, email and other areas, even if it has lost the relevancy battle to Google and other AI-driven search engines.
Wall Street is closely tuning into Yahoo’s new-age revival, as Yahoo increasingly cements itself as a strong IPO candidate, or a potential acquisition target, as early as next year.
Lanzone was, however, delightfully cryptic on the matter, stressing Yahoo’s comeback rather than catching the attention of potential buyers. “To be an attractive company for any investor or acquirer, we have to become a growth company again. That’s what we’ve been focused on,” he told the Financial Times.
So, will the OGs of the internet be back with a bang? The tech space is already crowded with Google, Microsoft and an ever-ending wave of fresh startups. Will Yahoo live up to its legacy name? For now, it is geared up for its second act.
(Edited by Prashant Dixit)