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A stereotypical french curse that is actually never used by real french people. Same as the mustache and the beret - something only non-french people think is typical of the French.
Non-French Guy trying to be French: Sacré bleu! I hev left my béret and stripy chemise in zee Café.
Real French Guy: *rolls eyes*
Non-French Guy trying to be French: Sacré bleu! I hev left my béret and stripy chemise in zee Café.
Real French Guy: *rolls eyes*
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG, FWB: GGQ1) is a multinational public cloud computing, Internet search, and advertising technologies corporation. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products,[5] and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program.[2][6] The company was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, often dubbed the "Google Guys",[7][8][9][10] while the two were attending Stanford University as Ph.D. candidates. It was first incorporated as a privately held company on September 4, 1998, with its initial public offering to follow on August 19, 2004. The company's stated mission from the outset was "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful",[11] and the company's unofficial slogan – coined by Google engineer Paul Buchheit – is Don't be evil.[12][13] In 2006, the company moved to their current headquarters in Mountain View, California.
Google runs over one million servers in data centers around the world,[14] and processes over one billion search requests[15] and twenty petabytes of user-generated data every day.[16][17][18] Google's rapid growth since its incorporation has triggered a chain of products, acquisitions and partnerships beyond the company's core search engine. The company offers online productivity software, such as its Gmail e-mail software, and social networking tools, including Orkut and, more recently, Google Buzz. Google's products extend to the desktop as well, with applications such as the web browser Google Chrome, the Picasa photo organization and editing software, and the Google Talk instant messaging application. More notably, Google leads the development of the Android mobile phone operating system, used on a number of phones such as the Nexus One and Motorola Droid. Because of its popularity and numerous products, Alexa lists Google as the Internet's most visited website.[19] Google is also Fortune Magazine's fourth best place to work,[20] and BrandZ's most powerful brand in the world.[21] The dominant market position of Google's services has led to criticism of the company over issues including privacy, copyright, and censorship.[22][23]
Contents
[hide]
* 1 History
o 1.1 Financing and initial public offering
o 1.2 Growth
o 1.3 Acquisitions and partnerships
* 2 Products and services
o 2.1 Advertising
o 2.2 Search engine
o 2.3 Productivity tools
o 2.4 Enterprise products
o 2.5 Other products
* 3 Corporate affairs and culture
o 3.1 Employees
o 3.2 Googleplex
o 3.3 Easter eggs and April Fool's Day jokes
o 3.4 Philanthropy
o 3.5 Network neutrality
* 4 Criticism
* 5 See also
* 6 References
* 7 Further reading
* 8 External links
* 9 Related information
History
Main article: History of Google
Google's homepage in 1998
Google's original homepage had a simple design since its founders were not experienced in HTML, the language for designing web pages.[24]
Google began in January 1996 as a research project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin when they were both PhD students at Stanford University in California.[25] While conventional search engines ranked results by counting how many times the search terms appeared on the page, the two theorized about a better system that analyzed the relationships between websites.[26] They called this new technology PageRank, where a website's relevance was determined by the number of pages, and the importance of those pages, that linked back to the original site.[27] A small search engine called Rankdex was already exploring a similar strategy.[28] Page and Brin originally nicknamed their new search engine "BackRub", because the system checked backlinks to estimate the importance of a site.[29][30] Eventually, they changed the name to Google, originating from a misspelling of the word "googol",[31][32] the number one followed by one hundred zeros, which was meant to signify the amount of information the search engine was to handle. Originally, Google ran under the Stanford University website, with the domain google.stanford.edu. The domain google.com was registered on September 15, 1997,[33] and the company was incorporated on September 4, 1998, at a friend's garage in Menlo Park, California.
Financing and initial public offering
Google's first servers, showing lots of exposed wiring and circuit boards
The first iteration of Google production servers was built with inexpensive hardware.[34]
The first funding for Google was an August 1998 contribution of US$100,000 from Andy Bechtolsheim, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, given before Google was even incorporated.[35] On June 7, 1999, a $25 million round of funding was announced,[36] with major investors including the venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sequoia Capital.[35]
Google's initial public offering (IPO) took place five years later on August 19, 2004. The company offered 19,605,052 shares at a price of $85 per share.[37][38] Shares were sold in a unique online auction format using a system built by Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse, underwriters for the deal.[39][40] The sale of $1.67 billion gave Google a market capitalization of more than $23 billion.[41] The vast majority of the 271 million shares remained under the control of Google, and many Google employees became instant paper millionaires. Yahoo!, a competitor of Google, also benefited because it owned 8.4 million shares of Google before the IPO took place.[42]
Some people speculated that Google's IPO would inevitably lead to changes in company culture. Reasons ranged from shareholder pressure for employee benefit reductions to the fact that many company executives would become instant paper millionaires.[43] As a reply to this concern, co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page promised in a report to potential investors that the IPO would not change the company's culture.[44] In 2005, however, articles in The New York Times and other sources began suggesting that Google had lost its anti-corporate, no evil philosophy.[45][46][47] In an effort to maintain the company's unique culture, Google designated a Chief Culture Officer, who also serves as the Director of Human Resources. The purpose of the Chief Culture Officer is to develop and maintain the culture and work on ways to keep true to the core values that the company was founded on: a flat organization with a collaborative environment.[48] Google has also faced allegations of sexism and ageism from former employees.[49][50]
The stock's performance after the IPO went well, with shares hitting $700 for the first time on October 31, 2007,[51] primarily because of strong sales and earnings in the online advertising market.[52] The surge in stock price was fueled mainly by individual investors, as opposed to large institutional investors and mutual funds.[52] The company is now listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the ticker symbol GOOG and under the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol GGQ1.
Growth
In March 1999, the company moved its offices to Palo Alto, California, home to several other noted Silicon Valley technology startups.[53] The next year, against Page and Brin's initial opposition toward an advertising-funded search engine,[54] Google began selling advertisements associated with search keywords.[25] In order to maintain an uncluttered page design and increase speed, advertisements were solely text-based. Keywords were sold based on a combination of price bids and clickthroughs, with bidding starting at five cents per click.[25] This model of selling keyword advertising was first pioneered by Goto.com, an Idealab spin off created by Bill Gross.[55][56] When the company changed names to Overture Services, it sued Google over alleged infringements of the company's pay-per-click and bidding patents. Overture Services would later be bought by Yahoo! and renamed Yahoo! Search Marketing. The case was then settled out of court, with Google agreeing to issue shares of common stock to Yahoo! in exchange for a perpetual license.[57]
During this time, Google was granted a patent describing their PageRank mechanism.[58] The patent was officially assigned to Stanford University and lists Lawrence Page as the inventor. In 2003, after outgrowing two other locations, the company leased their current office complex from Silicon Graphics at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway in Mountain View, California.[59] The complex has since come to be known as the Googleplex, a play on the word googolplex, the number one followed by a googol zeroes. Three years later, Google would buy the property from SGI for $319 million.[60] By that time, the name "Google" had found its way into everyday language, causing the verb "google" to be added to the Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary and the Oxford English Dictionary, denoted as "to use the Google search engine to obtain information on the Internet."[61][62]
Acquisitions and partnerships
See also: List of acquisitions by Google
Since 2001, Google has acquired many companies, mainly focusing on small venture capital companies. In 2004, Google acquired Keyhole, Inc..[63] The start-up company developed a product called Earth Viewer that gave a 3-D view of the Earth. Google renamed the service to Google Earth in 2005. Two years later, Google bought the online video site YouTube for $1.65 billion in stock.[64] On April 13, 2007, Google reached an agreement to acquire DoubleClick for $3.1 billion, giving Google valuable relationships that DoubleClick had with Web publishers and advertising agencies.[65] Later that same year, Google purchased GrandCentral for $50 million.[66] The site would later be changed over to Google Voice. On August 5, 2009, Google bought out its first public company, purchasing video software maker On2 Technologies for $106.5 million.[67] Google also acquired Aardvark, a social network search engine, for $50 million. Google commented in their internal blog, "we're looking forward to collaborating to see where we can take it".[68] And, in April 2010, Google announced it had acquired a hardware startup, Agnilux.[69]
In addition to the numerous companies Google has purchased, the company has partnered with other organizations for everything from research to advertising. In 2005, Google partnered with NASA Ames Research Center to build 1,000,000 square feet (93,000 m2) of offices.[70] The offices would be used for research projects involving large-scale data management, nanotechnology, distributed computing, and the entrepreneurial space industry. Later that year, Google entered into a partnership with Sun Microsystems in October 2005 to help share and distribute each other's technologies.[71] The company also partnered with AOL of Time Warner,[72] to enhance each other's video search services. Google's 2005 partnerships also included financing the new .mobi top-level domain for mobile devices, along with other companies including Microsoft, Nokia, and Ericsson.[73] Google would later launch "Adsense for Mobile", taking advantage of the emerging mobile advertising market.[74] Increasing their advertising reach even further, Google and Fox Interactive Media of News Corp. entered into a $900 million agreement to provide search and advertising on popular social networking site MySpace.[75]
In October 2006, Google announced that it had acquired the video-sharing site YouTube for US$1.65 billion in Google stock, and the deal was finalized on November 13, 2006.[76] Google does not provide detailed figures for YouTube's running costs, and YouTube's revenues in 2007 were noted as "not material" in a regulatory filing.[77] In June 2008, a Forbes magazine article projected the 2008 YouTube revenue at US$200 million, noting progress in advertising sales.[78] In 2007, Google began sponsoring NORAD Tracks Santa, a service that pretends to follow Santa Claus' progress on Christmas Eve,[79] using Google Earth to "track Santa" in 3-D for the first time,[80] and displacing former sponsor AOL. Google-owned YouTube gave NORAD Tracks Santa its own channel.[81]
In 2008, Google developed a partnership with GeoEye to launch a satellite providing Google with high-resolution (0.41 m monochrome, 1.65 m color) imagery for Google Earth. The satellite was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on September 6, 2008.[82] Google also announced in 2008 that it was hosting an archive of Life Magazine's photographs as part of its latest partnership. Some of the images in the archive were never published in the magazine.[83] The photos were watermarked and originally had copyright notices posted on all photos, regardless of public domain status.[84]
In 2010, Google Energy made its first investment in a renewable-energy project, putting up $38.8 million into two wind farms in North Dakota. The company announced the two locations will generate 169.5 megawatts of power, or enough to supply 55,000 homes. The farms, which were developed by NextEra Energy Resources, will reduce fossil fuel use in the region and return profits. NextEra Energy Resources sold Google a twenty percent stake in the project in order to get funding for project development.[85] Also in 2010, Google purchased Global IP Solutions, a Norway based company that provides web-based teleconferencing and other related services. This acquisition will enable Google to add telephone-style services to its list of products.[86] On May 27, 2010, Google announced it had also closed the acquisition of the mobile ad network, AdMob. This purchase occurred days after the Federal Trade Commission closed its investigation into the purchase.[87] Google acquired the company for an undisclosed amount.[88]
Products and services
See also: List of Google products
Advertising
Ninety-nine percent of Google's revenue is derived from its advertising programs.[89] For the 2006 fiscal year, the company reported $10.492 billion in total advertising revenues and only $112 million in licensing and other revenues.[90] Google has implemented various innovations in the online advertising market that helped propel them to one of the biggest advertisers in the market. Using technology from the company DoubleClick, Google can determine user interests and target advertisements appropriately so they are relevant to the context they are in and the user that is viewing them.[91][92] Google Analytics allows website owners to track where and how people use their website, allowing for in-depth research into getting users to go where you want them to go.[93]
Google advertisements can be placed on third-party websites in a two-part program. Google's AdWords allows advertisers to display their advertisements in the Google content network, through either a cost-per-click or cost-per-view scheme. The sister service, Google AdSense, allows website owners to display these advertisements on their website, and earn money every time ads are clicked.[94] One of the disadvantages and criticisms of this program is Google's inability to combat click fraud, when a person or automated script "clicks" on advertisements without being interested in the product, just to earn money for the website owner. Industry reports in 2006 claim that approximately 14 to 20 percent of clicks were in fact fraudulent or invalid.[95] In June 2008, Google reached an advertising agreement with Yahoo!, which would have allowed Yahoo! to feature Google advertisements on their web pages. The alliance between the two companies was never completely realized due to antitrust concerns by the U.S. Department of Justice. As a result, Google pulled out of the deal in November 2008.[96][97]
Search engine
Google's homepage in 2010
In 2010, Google updated its homepage with a new shadow-less logo.[98]
The Google web search engine is the company's most popular service. According to market research published by comScore in November 2009, Google is the dominant search engine in the United States market, with a market share of 65.6%.[99] Google indexes trillions of web pages, so that users can search for the information they desire, through the use of keywords and operators. This basic search engine has spread to specific services as well, including an image search engine, the Google News search site, Google Maps, and more. In early 2006, the company launched Google Video, which allowed users to upload, search, and watch videos from the Internet.[100] In 2009, however, uploads to Google Video were discontinued so that Google could focus more on the search aspect of the service.[101] The company even developed Google Desktop, a desktop search application used to search for files local to one's computer.
One of the more controversial search services Google hosts is Google Books. The company began scanning books and uploading limited previews, and full books where allowed, into their new book search engine. However, a number of copyright disputes arose, and Google reached a revised settlement in 2009 to limit its scans to books from the U.S., the U.K., Australia and Canada.[102] Furthermore, the Paris Civil Court ruled against Google in late 2009, asking them to remove the works of La Martinière (Éditions du Seuil) from their database.[103] In competition with Amazon.com, Google plans to sell digital versions of new books.[104] Similarly, in response to newcomer Bing, on July 21, 2010, Google updated their image search to display a streaming sequence of thumbnails that enlarge when pointed at. Their web search still displays results in a batch per page format.
Productivity tools
In addition to its standard web search services, Google has released over the years a number of online productivity tools. Gmail, a free webmail service provided by Google, was launched as an invitation-only beta program on April 1, 2004,[105] and became available to the general public on February 7, 2007.[106] The service was upgraded from beta status on July 7, 2009,[107] at which time it had 146 million users monthly.[108] The service would be the first online email service with one gigabyte of storage, and the first to keep emails from the same conversation together in one thread, similar to an Internet forum.[105] The service currently offers over 7400 MB of free storage with additional storage ranging from 20 GB to 16 TB available for US$0.25 per 1 GB per year.[109] Furthermore, software developers know Gmail for its pioneering use of AJAX, a programming technique that allows web pages to be interactive without refreshing the browser.[110]
Google Docs, another part of Google's productivity suite, allows users to create, edit, and collaborate on documents in an online environment, not dissimilar to Microsoft Word. The service was originally called Writely, but was obtained by Google on March 9, 2006, where it was released as an invitation-only preview.[111] On June 6 after the acquisition, Google created an experimental spreadsheet editing program,[112] which would be combined with Google Docs on October 10.[113] A program to edit presentations would complete the set on September 17, 2007,[114] before all three services were taken out of beta along with Gmail on July 7, 2009.[107] Google Calendar, a calendar program closely integrated with Gmail,[115] was also taken out of beta that day after its beta release on April 12, 2006.[116]
Enterprise products
Google's search appliance
Google's search appliance at the 2008 RSA Conference
Google entered the enterprise market in February 2002 with the launch of its Google Search Appliance, targeted toward providing search technology for larger organizations.[25] Google launched the Mini three years later, which was targeted at smaller organizations. Late in 2006, Google began to sell Custom Search Business Edition, providing customers with an advertising-free window into Google.com's index. The service was renamed Google Site Search in 2008.[117]
Another one of Google's enterprise products is Google Apps Premier Edition. The service, and its accompanying Google Apps Education Edition and Standard Edition, allow companies, schools, and other organizations to bring Google's online applications, such as Gmail and Google Documents, into their own domain. The Premier Edition specifically includes extras over the Standard Edition such as more disk space, API access, and premium support, and it costs $50 per user per year. A large implementation of Google Apps with 38,000 users is at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. In the same year Google Apps was launched, Google acquired Postini[118] and proceeded to integrate the company's security technologies into Google Apps[119] under the name Google Postini Services.[120]
Other products
Google Translate is a server-side machine translation service, which can translate between 35 different languages. Browser extensions allow for easy access to Google Translate from the browser. The software uses corpus linguistics techniques, where the program "learns" from professionally translated documents, specifically United Nations and European Parliament proceedings.[121] Furthermore, a "suggest a better translation" feature accompanies the translated text, allowing users to indicate where the current translation is incorrect or otherwise inferior to another translation.
Google launched its Google News service in 2002. The site proclaimed that the company had created a "highly unusual" site that "offers a news service compiled solely by computer algorithms without human intervention. Google employs no editors, managing editors, or executive editors."[122] The site hosted less licensed news content than Yahoo! News, and instead presented topically-selected links to news and opinion pieces along with reproductions of their headlines, story leads, and photographs.[123] The photographs are typically reduced to thumbnail size and placed next to headlines from other news sources on the same topic in order to minimize copyright infringement claims. Nevertheless, Agence France Presse sued Google for copyright infringement in federal court in the District of Columbia, a case which Google settled for an undisclosed amount in a pact that included a license of the full text of AFP articles for use on Google News.[124]
In 2006, Google made a bid to offer free wireless broadband access throughout the city of San Francisco in conjunction with Internet service provider Earthlink. Large telecommunications companies such as Comcast and Verizon opposed such efforts, claiming it was "unfair competition" and that cities would be violating their commitments to offer local monopolies to these companies. In his testimony before Congress on Net Neutrality in 2006, Google's Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf blamed such tactics on the fact that nearly half of all consumers lack meaningful choice in broadband providers.[125] Google currently offers free wi-fi access in its hometown of Mountain View, California.[126]
One year later, reports surfaced that Google was planning the release of its own mobile phone, possibly a competitor to Apple's iPhone.[127][128][129] The project, called Android, turned out not to be a phone but an operating system for mobile devices, which Google acquired and then released as an open-source project under the Apache 2.0 license.[130] Google provides a software development kit for developers so applications can be created to be run on Android-based phone. In September 2008, T-Mobile released the G1, the first Android-based phone.[131] More than a year later on January 5, 2010, Google released an Android phone under its own company name called the Nexus One.[132]
Other projects Google has worked on include a new collaborative communication service, a web browser, and even a mobile operating system. The first of these was first announced on May 27, 2009. Google Wave was described as a product that helps users communicate and collaborate on the web. The service is Google's "email redesigned", with realtime editing, the ability to embed audio, video, and other media, and extensions that further enhance the communication experience. Google Wave was previously in a developer's preview, where interested users had to be invited to test the service, but was released to the general public on May 19, 2010, at Google's I/O keynote. On September 1, 2008, Google pre-announced the upcoming availability of Google Chrome, an open-source web browser,[133] which was then released on September 2, 2008. The next year, on 7 July 2009, Google announced Google Chrome OS, an open-source Linux-based operating system that includes only a web browser and is designed to log users into their Google account.[134][135]
Corporate affairs and culture
Eric E. Schmidt, Sergey Brin, and Larry Page sitting together
Google CEO Eric E. Schmidt with Sergey Brin and Larry Page (left to right)
Google is known for having an informal corporate culture. On Fortune Magazine's list of best companies to work for, Google ranked first in 2007 and 2008[20][136] and fourth in 2009 and 2010.[137][138] Google's corporate philosophy embodies such casual principles as "you can make money without doing evil," "you can be serious without a suit," and "work should be challenging and the challenge should be fun."[139]
Employees
Google's stock performance following its IPO has enabled many early employees to be competitively compensated.[140] After the company's IPO, founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page and CEO Eric Schmidt requested that their base salary be cut to $1. Subsequent offers by the company to increase their salaries have been turned down, primarily because their primary compensation continues to come from returns stock in Google. Prior to 2004, Schmidt was making $250,000 per year, and Page and Brin each earned a salary of $150,000.[141]
In 2007 and through early 2008, Google has seen the departure of several top executives. In October 2007, former chief financial officer of YouTube Gideon Yu joined Facebook[142] along with Benjamin Ling, a high-ranking engineer.[143] In March 2008, Sheryl Sandburg, then vice-president of global online sales and operations, began her position as chief operating officer of Facebook[144] while Ash ElDifrawi, formerly head of brand advertising, left to become chief marketing officer of Netshops, an online retail company that was renamed Hayneedle in 2009.[145]
As a motivation technique, Google uses a policy often called Innovation Time Off, where Google engineers are encouraged to spend twenty percent of their work time on projects that interest them. Some of Google's newer services, such as Gmail, Google News, Orkut, and AdSense originated from these independent endeavors.[146] In a talk at Stanford University, Marissa Mayer, Google's Vice President of Search Products and User Experience, showed that half of all new product launches at the time had originated from the Innovation Time Off.[147]
Googleplex
The Googleplex
The Googleplex, Google's original and largest corporate campus
Main article: Googleplex
Google's headquarters in Mountain View, California is referred to as "the Googleplex", a play of words on the number googolplex and the headquarters itself being a complex of buildings. The lobby is decorated with a piano, lava lamps, old server clusters, and a projection of search queries on the wall. The hallways are full of exercise balls and bicycles. Each employee has access to the corporate recreation center. Recreational amenities are scattered throughout the campus and include a workout room with weights and rowing machines, locker rooms, washers and dryers, a massage room, assorted video games, foosball, a baby grand piano, a pool table, and ping pong. In addition to the rec room, there are snack rooms stocked with various foods and drinks.[148] In 2006, Google moved into 311,000 square feet (28,900 m2) of office space in New York City, at 111 Eighth Ave. in Manhattan.[149] The office was specially designed and built for Google, and it now houses its largest advertising sales team, which has been instrumental in securing large partnerships.[149] In 2003, they added an engineering staff in New York City, which has been responsible for more than 100 engineering projects, including Google Maps, Google Spreadsheets, and others. It is estimated that the building costs Google $10 million per year to rent and is similar in design and functionality to its Mountain View headquarters, including foosball, air hockey, and ping-pong tables, as well as a video game area. In November 2006, Google opened offices on Carnegie Mellon's campus in Pittsburgh.[150] By late 2006, Google also established a new headquarters for its AdWords division in Ann Arbor, Michigan.[151] Furthermore, Google has offices all around the world, and in the United States, including Atlanta, Austin, Boulder, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington DC.
Google's NYC office building
Google's NYC office building houses their largest advertising sales team.[149]
Google is taking steps to ensure that their operations are environmentally sound. In October 2006, the company announced plans to install thousands of solar panels to provide up to 1.6 megawatts of electricity, enough to satisfy approximately 30% of the campus' energy needs.[152] The system will be the largest solar power system constructed on a U.S. corporate campus and one of the largest on any corporate site in the world.[152] In addition, Google announced in 2009 that it was deploying herds of goats to keep grassland around the Googleplex short, helping to prevent the threat from seasonal bush fires while also reducing the carbon footprint of mowing the extensive grounds.[153][154] The idea of trimming lawns using goats originated from R. J. Widlar, an engineer who worked for National Semiconductor.[155] Despite this, Google has faced accusations in Harper's Magazine of being extremely excessive with their energy usage, and were accused of employing their "Don't be evil" motto as well as their very public energy saving campaigns as means of trying to cover up or make up for the massive amounts of energy their servers actually require.[156]
Easter eggs and April Fool's Day jokes
Main article: Google's hoaxes
Google has a tradition of creating April Fool's Day jokes. For example, Google MentalPlex allegedly featured the use of mental power to search the web.[157] In 2007, Google announced a free Internet service called TiSP, or Toilet Internet Service Provider, where one obtained a connection by flushing one end of a fiber-optic cable down their toilet.[158] Also in 2007, Google's Gmail page displayed an announcement for Gmail Paper, allowing users to have email messages printed and shipped to them.[159] In 2010, Google jokingly changed its company name to Topeka in honor of Topeka, Kansas, whose mayor actually changed the city's name to Google for a short amount of time in an attempt to sway Google's decision in its new Google Fiber Project.[160][161]
In addition to April Fool's Day jokes, Google's services contain a number of Easter eggs. For instance, Google included the Swedish Chef's "Bork bork bork," Pig Latin, "Hacker" or leetspeak, Elmer Fudd, and Klingon as language selections for its search engine.[162] In addition, the search engine calculator provides the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything from Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.[163] Furthemore, when searching the word "recursion", the spell-checker's result for the properly spelled word is exactly the same word, creating a recursive link.[164] In Google Maps, searching for directions between places separated by large bodies of water, such as Los Angeles and Tokyo, results in instructions to "kayak across the Pacific Ocean." During FIFA World Cup 2010, search queries like 'world cup', 'fifa', etc. will cause the Goooo...gle page indicator at the bottom of every result page to read Goooo...al! instead.
Philanthropy
Main article: Google.org
In 2004, Google formed the not-for-profit philanthropic Google.org, with a start-up fund of $1 billion.[165] The mission of the organization is to create awareness about climate change, global public health, and global poverty. One of its first projects was to develop a viable plug-in hybrid electric vehicle that can attain 100 miles per gallon. Google hired Dr. Larry Brilliant as the program's executive director in 2004[166] and the current director is Megan Smith.[167]
In 2008 Google announced its "project 10100" which accepted ideas for how to help the community and then allowed Google users to vote on their favorites.[168]
Network neutrality
Google is a noted supporter of network neutrality. According to Google's Guide to Net Neutrality:
Network neutrality is the principle that Internet users should be in control of what content they view and what applications they use on the Internet. The Internet has operated according to this neutrality principle since its earliest days... Fundamentally, net neutrality is about equal access to the Internet. In our view, the broadband carriers should not be permitted to use their market power to discriminate against competing applications or content. Just as telephone companies are not permitted to tell consumers who they can call or what they can say, broadband carriers should not be allowed to use their market power to control activity online.[169]
On February 7, 2006, Vinton Cerf, a co-inventor of the Internet Protocol (IP), and current Vice President and "Chief Internet Evangelist" at Google, in testimony before Congress, said, "allowing broadband carriers to control what people see and do online would fundamentally undermine the principles that have made the Internet such a success."[170]
Criticism
Main article: Criticism of Google
Google has stated that its goal is "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful", but has faced criticism on a range of issues.[11] Areas of criticism have included copyright, privacy, and censorship. In 2003, The New York Times complained that Google's caching of content on their site infringed on their copyright for the content.[171] In this case, the United States District Court of Nevada ruled in favor of Google in Field v. Google and Parker v. Google.[172][173] The Authors Guild, a group that represents 8,000 U.S. authors, filed a class action suit in a Manhattan federal court against Google in 2005 over its scanning and copying of books through its Google Library program. Google replied that it is in compliance with all existing and historical applications of copyright laws regarding books.[174]
On December 2009, Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt, declared after privacy concerns: "If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place. If you really need that kind of privacy, the reality is that search engines — including Google — do retain this information for some time and it's important, for example, that we are all subject in the United States to the Patriot Act and it is possible that all that information could be made available to the authorities."[175] Privacy International ranked Google as "Hostile to Privacy", its lowest rating on their report, making Google the only company in the list to receive that ranking.[176][177]
The non-profit group Public Information Research launched Google Watch, a website advertised as "a look at Google's monopoly, algorithms, and privacy issues."[178][179] The site raised questions relating to Google's storage of cookies, which in 2007 had a life span of more than 32 years and incorporated a unique ID that enabled creation of a user data log.[180] Google Watch has also criticized Google's PageRank algorithms, saying that they discriminate against new websites and favor established sites,[181] and has made allegations about connections between Google and the NSA and the CIA.[182] Google's has also faced criticism with its release of Google Buzz, Google's version of social networking, where Gmail users had their contact lists automatically made public unless they opted out.[183]
Google has been criticized for its censorship of certain sites in specific countries and regions. Until March 2010, Google adhered to the Internet censorship policies of China, enforced by means of filters known colloquially as "The Great Firewall of China".[184]
See also
San Francisco Bay Area portal
Companies portal
* Google logo
* Google China
* Google Ventures – venture capital fund
* Googlebot – web crawler
* Google Platform
References
1. ^ Incorporation document. April 29, 2004. http://investor.google.com/corporate/certificate-o... Retrieved September 27, 2008.
2. ^ a b c d e "Financial Tables". Google Investor Relations. http://investor.google.com/fin_data.html. Retrieved 2010-07-05.
3. ^ a b c d e U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (2009). "Form 10-K". Washington, D.C.: United States of America. Part II, Item 6. http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1288776/000... Retrieved February 18, 2010.
4. ^ "Google Announces Second Quater 2010 Financial Results". Google Investor Relations. July 15, 2010. http://investor.google.com/earnings/2010/Q2_google... Retrieved July 16, 2010.
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Google runs over one million servers in data centers around the world,[14] and processes over one billion search requests[15] and twenty petabytes of user-generated data every day.[16][17][18] Google's rapid growth since its incorporation has triggered a chain of products, acquisitions and partnerships beyond the company's core search engine. The company offers online productivity software, such as its Gmail e-mail software, and social networking tools, including Orkut and, more recently, Google Buzz. Google's products extend to the desktop as well, with applications such as the web browser Google Chrome, the Picasa photo organization and editing software, and the Google Talk instant messaging application. More notably, Google leads the development of the Android mobile phone operating system, used on a number of phones such as the Nexus One and Motorola Droid. Because of its popularity and numerous products, Alexa lists Google as the Internet's most visited website.[19] Google is also Fortune Magazine's fourth best place to work,[20] and BrandZ's most powerful brand in the world.[21] The dominant market position of Google's services has led to criticism of the company over issues including privacy, copyright, and censorship.[22][23]
Contents
[hide]
* 1 History
o 1.1 Financing and initial public offering
o 1.2 Growth
o 1.3 Acquisitions and partnerships
* 2 Products and services
o 2.1 Advertising
o 2.2 Search engine
o 2.3 Productivity tools
o 2.4 Enterprise products
o 2.5 Other products
* 3 Corporate affairs and culture
o 3.1 Employees
o 3.2 Googleplex
o 3.3 Easter eggs and April Fool's Day jokes
o 3.4 Philanthropy
o 3.5 Network neutrality
* 4 Criticism
* 5 See also
* 6 References
* 7 Further reading
* 8 External links
* 9 Related information
History
Main article: History of Google
Google's homepage in 1998
Google's original homepage had a simple design since its founders were not experienced in HTML, the language for designing web pages.[24]
Google began in January 1996 as a research project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin when they were both PhD students at Stanford University in California.[25] While conventional search engines ranked results by counting how many times the search terms appeared on the page, the two theorized about a better system that analyzed the relationships between websites.[26] They called this new technology PageRank, where a website's relevance was determined by the number of pages, and the importance of those pages, that linked back to the original site.[27] A small search engine called Rankdex was already exploring a similar strategy.[28] Page and Brin originally nicknamed their new search engine "BackRub", because the system checked backlinks to estimate the importance of a site.[29][30] Eventually, they changed the name to Google, originating from a misspelling of the word "googol",[31][32] the number one followed by one hundred zeros, which was meant to signify the amount of information the search engine was to handle. Originally, Google ran under the Stanford University website, with the domain google.stanford.edu. The domain google.com was registered on September 15, 1997,[33] and the company was incorporated on September 4, 1998, at a friend's garage in Menlo Park, California.
Financing and initial public offering
Google's first servers, showing lots of exposed wiring and circuit boards
The first iteration of Google production servers was built with inexpensive hardware.[34]
The first funding for Google was an August 1998 contribution of US$100,000 from Andy Bechtolsheim, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, given before Google was even incorporated.[35] On June 7, 1999, a $25 million round of funding was announced,[36] with major investors including the venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sequoia Capital.[35]
Google's initial public offering (IPO) took place five years later on August 19, 2004. The company offered 19,605,052 shares at a price of $85 per share.[37][38] Shares were sold in a unique online auction format using a system built by Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse, underwriters for the deal.[39][40] The sale of $1.67 billion gave Google a market capitalization of more than $23 billion.[41] The vast majority of the 271 million shares remained under the control of Google, and many Google employees became instant paper millionaires. Yahoo!, a competitor of Google, also benefited because it owned 8.4 million shares of Google before the IPO took place.[42]
Some people speculated that Google's IPO would inevitably lead to changes in company culture. Reasons ranged from shareholder pressure for employee benefit reductions to the fact that many company executives would become instant paper millionaires.[43] As a reply to this concern, co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page promised in a report to potential investors that the IPO would not change the company's culture.[44] In 2005, however, articles in The New York Times and other sources began suggesting that Google had lost its anti-corporate, no evil philosophy.[45][46][47] In an effort to maintain the company's unique culture, Google designated a Chief Culture Officer, who also serves as the Director of Human Resources. The purpose of the Chief Culture Officer is to develop and maintain the culture and work on ways to keep true to the core values that the company was founded on: a flat organization with a collaborative environment.[48] Google has also faced allegations of sexism and ageism from former employees.[49][50]
The stock's performance after the IPO went well, with shares hitting $700 for the first time on October 31, 2007,[51] primarily because of strong sales and earnings in the online advertising market.[52] The surge in stock price was fueled mainly by individual investors, as opposed to large institutional investors and mutual funds.[52] The company is now listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the ticker symbol GOOG and under the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol GGQ1.
Growth
In March 1999, the company moved its offices to Palo Alto, California, home to several other noted Silicon Valley technology startups.[53] The next year, against Page and Brin's initial opposition toward an advertising-funded search engine,[54] Google began selling advertisements associated with search keywords.[25] In order to maintain an uncluttered page design and increase speed, advertisements were solely text-based. Keywords were sold based on a combination of price bids and clickthroughs, with bidding starting at five cents per click.[25] This model of selling keyword advertising was first pioneered by Goto.com, an Idealab spin off created by Bill Gross.[55][56] When the company changed names to Overture Services, it sued Google over alleged infringements of the company's pay-per-click and bidding patents. Overture Services would later be bought by Yahoo! and renamed Yahoo! Search Marketing. The case was then settled out of court, with Google agreeing to issue shares of common stock to Yahoo! in exchange for a perpetual license.[57]
During this time, Google was granted a patent describing their PageRank mechanism.[58] The patent was officially assigned to Stanford University and lists Lawrence Page as the inventor. In 2003, after outgrowing two other locations, the company leased their current office complex from Silicon Graphics at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway in Mountain View, California.[59] The complex has since come to be known as the Googleplex, a play on the word googolplex, the number one followed by a googol zeroes. Three years later, Google would buy the property from SGI for $319 million.[60] By that time, the name "Google" had found its way into everyday language, causing the verb "google" to be added to the Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary and the Oxford English Dictionary, denoted as "to use the Google search engine to obtain information on the Internet."[61][62]
Acquisitions and partnerships
See also: List of acquisitions by Google
Since 2001, Google has acquired many companies, mainly focusing on small venture capital companies. In 2004, Google acquired Keyhole, Inc..[63] The start-up company developed a product called Earth Viewer that gave a 3-D view of the Earth. Google renamed the service to Google Earth in 2005. Two years later, Google bought the online video site YouTube for $1.65 billion in stock.[64] On April 13, 2007, Google reached an agreement to acquire DoubleClick for $3.1 billion, giving Google valuable relationships that DoubleClick had with Web publishers and advertising agencies.[65] Later that same year, Google purchased GrandCentral for $50 million.[66] The site would later be changed over to Google Voice. On August 5, 2009, Google bought out its first public company, purchasing video software maker On2 Technologies for $106.5 million.[67] Google also acquired Aardvark, a social network search engine, for $50 million. Google commented in their internal blog, "we're looking forward to collaborating to see where we can take it".[68] And, in April 2010, Google announced it had acquired a hardware startup, Agnilux.[69]
In addition to the numerous companies Google has purchased, the company has partnered with other organizations for everything from research to advertising. In 2005, Google partnered with NASA Ames Research Center to build 1,000,000 square feet (93,000 m2) of offices.[70] The offices would be used for research projects involving large-scale data management, nanotechnology, distributed computing, and the entrepreneurial space industry. Later that year, Google entered into a partnership with Sun Microsystems in October 2005 to help share and distribute each other's technologies.[71] The company also partnered with AOL of Time Warner,[72] to enhance each other's video search services. Google's 2005 partnerships also included financing the new .mobi top-level domain for mobile devices, along with other companies including Microsoft, Nokia, and Ericsson.[73] Google would later launch "Adsense for Mobile", taking advantage of the emerging mobile advertising market.[74] Increasing their advertising reach even further, Google and Fox Interactive Media of News Corp. entered into a $900 million agreement to provide search and advertising on popular social networking site MySpace.[75]
In October 2006, Google announced that it had acquired the video-sharing site YouTube for US$1.65 billion in Google stock, and the deal was finalized on November 13, 2006.[76] Google does not provide detailed figures for YouTube's running costs, and YouTube's revenues in 2007 were noted as "not material" in a regulatory filing.[77] In June 2008, a Forbes magazine article projected the 2008 YouTube revenue at US$200 million, noting progress in advertising sales.[78] In 2007, Google began sponsoring NORAD Tracks Santa, a service that pretends to follow Santa Claus' progress on Christmas Eve,[79] using Google Earth to "track Santa" in 3-D for the first time,[80] and displacing former sponsor AOL. Google-owned YouTube gave NORAD Tracks Santa its own channel.[81]
In 2008, Google developed a partnership with GeoEye to launch a satellite providing Google with high-resolution (0.41 m monochrome, 1.65 m color) imagery for Google Earth. The satellite was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on September 6, 2008.[82] Google also announced in 2008 that it was hosting an archive of Life Magazine's photographs as part of its latest partnership. Some of the images in the archive were never published in the magazine.[83] The photos were watermarked and originally had copyright notices posted on all photos, regardless of public domain status.[84]
In 2010, Google Energy made its first investment in a renewable-energy project, putting up $38.8 million into two wind farms in North Dakota. The company announced the two locations will generate 169.5 megawatts of power, or enough to supply 55,000 homes. The farms, which were developed by NextEra Energy Resources, will reduce fossil fuel use in the region and return profits. NextEra Energy Resources sold Google a twenty percent stake in the project in order to get funding for project development.[85] Also in 2010, Google purchased Global IP Solutions, a Norway based company that provides web-based teleconferencing and other related services. This acquisition will enable Google to add telephone-style services to its list of products.[86] On May 27, 2010, Google announced it had also closed the acquisition of the mobile ad network, AdMob. This purchase occurred days after the Federal Trade Commission closed its investigation into the purchase.[87] Google acquired the company for an undisclosed amount.[88]
Products and services
See also: List of Google products
Advertising
Ninety-nine percent of Google's revenue is derived from its advertising programs.[89] For the 2006 fiscal year, the company reported $10.492 billion in total advertising revenues and only $112 million in licensing and other revenues.[90] Google has implemented various innovations in the online advertising market that helped propel them to one of the biggest advertisers in the market. Using technology from the company DoubleClick, Google can determine user interests and target advertisements appropriately so they are relevant to the context they are in and the user that is viewing them.[91][92] Google Analytics allows website owners to track where and how people use their website, allowing for in-depth research into getting users to go where you want them to go.[93]
Google advertisements can be placed on third-party websites in a two-part program. Google's AdWords allows advertisers to display their advertisements in the Google content network, through either a cost-per-click or cost-per-view scheme. The sister service, Google AdSense, allows website owners to display these advertisements on their website, and earn money every time ads are clicked.[94] One of the disadvantages and criticisms of this program is Google's inability to combat click fraud, when a person or automated script "clicks" on advertisements without being interested in the product, just to earn money for the website owner. Industry reports in 2006 claim that approximately 14 to 20 percent of clicks were in fact fraudulent or invalid.[95] In June 2008, Google reached an advertising agreement with Yahoo!, which would have allowed Yahoo! to feature Google advertisements on their web pages. The alliance between the two companies was never completely realized due to antitrust concerns by the U.S. Department of Justice. As a result, Google pulled out of the deal in November 2008.[96][97]
Search engine
Google's homepage in 2010
In 2010, Google updated its homepage with a new shadow-less logo.[98]
The Google web search engine is the company's most popular service. According to market research published by comScore in November 2009, Google is the dominant search engine in the United States market, with a market share of 65.6%.[99] Google indexes trillions of web pages, so that users can search for the information they desire, through the use of keywords and operators. This basic search engine has spread to specific services as well, including an image search engine, the Google News search site, Google Maps, and more. In early 2006, the company launched Google Video, which allowed users to upload, search, and watch videos from the Internet.[100] In 2009, however, uploads to Google Video were discontinued so that Google could focus more on the search aspect of the service.[101] The company even developed Google Desktop, a desktop search application used to search for files local to one's computer.
One of the more controversial search services Google hosts is Google Books. The company began scanning books and uploading limited previews, and full books where allowed, into their new book search engine. However, a number of copyright disputes arose, and Google reached a revised settlement in 2009 to limit its scans to books from the U.S., the U.K., Australia and Canada.[102] Furthermore, the Paris Civil Court ruled against Google in late 2009, asking them to remove the works of La Martinière (Éditions du Seuil) from their database.[103] In competition with Amazon.com, Google plans to sell digital versions of new books.[104] Similarly, in response to newcomer Bing, on July 21, 2010, Google updated their image search to display a streaming sequence of thumbnails that enlarge when pointed at. Their web search still displays results in a batch per page format.
Productivity tools
In addition to its standard web search services, Google has released over the years a number of online productivity tools. Gmail, a free webmail service provided by Google, was launched as an invitation-only beta program on April 1, 2004,[105] and became available to the general public on February 7, 2007.[106] The service was upgraded from beta status on July 7, 2009,[107] at which time it had 146 million users monthly.[108] The service would be the first online email service with one gigabyte of storage, and the first to keep emails from the same conversation together in one thread, similar to an Internet forum.[105] The service currently offers over 7400 MB of free storage with additional storage ranging from 20 GB to 16 TB available for US$0.25 per 1 GB per year.[109] Furthermore, software developers know Gmail for its pioneering use of AJAX, a programming technique that allows web pages to be interactive without refreshing the browser.[110]
Google Docs, another part of Google's productivity suite, allows users to create, edit, and collaborate on documents in an online environment, not dissimilar to Microsoft Word. The service was originally called Writely, but was obtained by Google on March 9, 2006, where it was released as an invitation-only preview.[111] On June 6 after the acquisition, Google created an experimental spreadsheet editing program,[112] which would be combined with Google Docs on October 10.[113] A program to edit presentations would complete the set on September 17, 2007,[114] before all three services were taken out of beta along with Gmail on July 7, 2009.[107] Google Calendar, a calendar program closely integrated with Gmail,[115] was also taken out of beta that day after its beta release on April 12, 2006.[116]
Enterprise products
Google's search appliance
Google's search appliance at the 2008 RSA Conference
Google entered the enterprise market in February 2002 with the launch of its Google Search Appliance, targeted toward providing search technology for larger organizations.[25] Google launched the Mini three years later, which was targeted at smaller organizations. Late in 2006, Google began to sell Custom Search Business Edition, providing customers with an advertising-free window into Google.com's index. The service was renamed Google Site Search in 2008.[117]
Another one of Google's enterprise products is Google Apps Premier Edition. The service, and its accompanying Google Apps Education Edition and Standard Edition, allow companies, schools, and other organizations to bring Google's online applications, such as Gmail and Google Documents, into their own domain. The Premier Edition specifically includes extras over the Standard Edition such as more disk space, API access, and premium support, and it costs $50 per user per year. A large implementation of Google Apps with 38,000 users is at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. In the same year Google Apps was launched, Google acquired Postini[118] and proceeded to integrate the company's security technologies into Google Apps[119] under the name Google Postini Services.[120]
Other products
Google Translate is a server-side machine translation service, which can translate between 35 different languages. Browser extensions allow for easy access to Google Translate from the browser. The software uses corpus linguistics techniques, where the program "learns" from professionally translated documents, specifically United Nations and European Parliament proceedings.[121] Furthermore, a "suggest a better translation" feature accompanies the translated text, allowing users to indicate where the current translation is incorrect or otherwise inferior to another translation.
Google launched its Google News service in 2002. The site proclaimed that the company had created a "highly unusual" site that "offers a news service compiled solely by computer algorithms without human intervention. Google employs no editors, managing editors, or executive editors."[122] The site hosted less licensed news content than Yahoo! News, and instead presented topically-selected links to news and opinion pieces along with reproductions of their headlines, story leads, and photographs.[123] The photographs are typically reduced to thumbnail size and placed next to headlines from other news sources on the same topic in order to minimize copyright infringement claims. Nevertheless, Agence France Presse sued Google for copyright infringement in federal court in the District of Columbia, a case which Google settled for an undisclosed amount in a pact that included a license of the full text of AFP articles for use on Google News.[124]
In 2006, Google made a bid to offer free wireless broadband access throughout the city of San Francisco in conjunction with Internet service provider Earthlink. Large telecommunications companies such as Comcast and Verizon opposed such efforts, claiming it was "unfair competition" and that cities would be violating their commitments to offer local monopolies to these companies. In his testimony before Congress on Net Neutrality in 2006, Google's Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf blamed such tactics on the fact that nearly half of all consumers lack meaningful choice in broadband providers.[125] Google currently offers free wi-fi access in its hometown of Mountain View, California.[126]
One year later, reports surfaced that Google was planning the release of its own mobile phone, possibly a competitor to Apple's iPhone.[127][128][129] The project, called Android, turned out not to be a phone but an operating system for mobile devices, which Google acquired and then released as an open-source project under the Apache 2.0 license.[130] Google provides a software development kit for developers so applications can be created to be run on Android-based phone. In September 2008, T-Mobile released the G1, the first Android-based phone.[131] More than a year later on January 5, 2010, Google released an Android phone under its own company name called the Nexus One.[132]
Other projects Google has worked on include a new collaborative communication service, a web browser, and even a mobile operating system. The first of these was first announced on May 27, 2009. Google Wave was described as a product that helps users communicate and collaborate on the web. The service is Google's "email redesigned", with realtime editing, the ability to embed audio, video, and other media, and extensions that further enhance the communication experience. Google Wave was previously in a developer's preview, where interested users had to be invited to test the service, but was released to the general public on May 19, 2010, at Google's I/O keynote. On September 1, 2008, Google pre-announced the upcoming availability of Google Chrome, an open-source web browser,[133] which was then released on September 2, 2008. The next year, on 7 July 2009, Google announced Google Chrome OS, an open-source Linux-based operating system that includes only a web browser and is designed to log users into their Google account.[134][135]
Corporate affairs and culture
Eric E. Schmidt, Sergey Brin, and Larry Page sitting together
Google CEO Eric E. Schmidt with Sergey Brin and Larry Page (left to right)
Google is known for having an informal corporate culture. On Fortune Magazine's list of best companies to work for, Google ranked first in 2007 and 2008[20][136] and fourth in 2009 and 2010.[137][138] Google's corporate philosophy embodies such casual principles as "you can make money without doing evil," "you can be serious without a suit," and "work should be challenging and the challenge should be fun."[139]
Employees
Google's stock performance following its IPO has enabled many early employees to be competitively compensated.[140] After the company's IPO, founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page and CEO Eric Schmidt requested that their base salary be cut to $1. Subsequent offers by the company to increase their salaries have been turned down, primarily because their primary compensation continues to come from returns stock in Google. Prior to 2004, Schmidt was making $250,000 per year, and Page and Brin each earned a salary of $150,000.[141]
In 2007 and through early 2008, Google has seen the departure of several top executives. In October 2007, former chief financial officer of YouTube Gideon Yu joined Facebook[142] along with Benjamin Ling, a high-ranking engineer.[143] In March 2008, Sheryl Sandburg, then vice-president of global online sales and operations, began her position as chief operating officer of Facebook[144] while Ash ElDifrawi, formerly head of brand advertising, left to become chief marketing officer of Netshops, an online retail company that was renamed Hayneedle in 2009.[145]
As a motivation technique, Google uses a policy often called Innovation Time Off, where Google engineers are encouraged to spend twenty percent of their work time on projects that interest them. Some of Google's newer services, such as Gmail, Google News, Orkut, and AdSense originated from these independent endeavors.[146] In a talk at Stanford University, Marissa Mayer, Google's Vice President of Search Products and User Experience, showed that half of all new product launches at the time had originated from the Innovation Time Off.[147]
Googleplex
The Googleplex
The Googleplex, Google's original and largest corporate campus
Main article: Googleplex
Google's headquarters in Mountain View, California is referred to as "the Googleplex", a play of words on the number googolplex and the headquarters itself being a complex of buildings. The lobby is decorated with a piano, lava lamps, old server clusters, and a projection of search queries on the wall. The hallways are full of exercise balls and bicycles. Each employee has access to the corporate recreation center. Recreational amenities are scattered throughout the campus and include a workout room with weights and rowing machines, locker rooms, washers and dryers, a massage room, assorted video games, foosball, a baby grand piano, a pool table, and ping pong. In addition to the rec room, there are snack rooms stocked with various foods and drinks.[148] In 2006, Google moved into 311,000 square feet (28,900 m2) of office space in New York City, at 111 Eighth Ave. in Manhattan.[149] The office was specially designed and built for Google, and it now houses its largest advertising sales team, which has been instrumental in securing large partnerships.[149] In 2003, they added an engineering staff in New York City, which has been responsible for more than 100 engineering projects, including Google Maps, Google Spreadsheets, and others. It is estimated that the building costs Google $10 million per year to rent and is similar in design and functionality to its Mountain View headquarters, including foosball, air hockey, and ping-pong tables, as well as a video game area. In November 2006, Google opened offices on Carnegie Mellon's campus in Pittsburgh.[150] By late 2006, Google also established a new headquarters for its AdWords division in Ann Arbor, Michigan.[151] Furthermore, Google has offices all around the world, and in the United States, including Atlanta, Austin, Boulder, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington DC.
Google's NYC office building
Google's NYC office building houses their largest advertising sales team.[149]
Google is taking steps to ensure that their operations are environmentally sound. In October 2006, the company announced plans to install thousands of solar panels to provide up to 1.6 megawatts of electricity, enough to satisfy approximately 30% of the campus' energy needs.[152] The system will be the largest solar power system constructed on a U.S. corporate campus and one of the largest on any corporate site in the world.[152] In addition, Google announced in 2009 that it was deploying herds of goats to keep grassland around the Googleplex short, helping to prevent the threat from seasonal bush fires while also reducing the carbon footprint of mowing the extensive grounds.[153][154] The idea of trimming lawns using goats originated from R. J. Widlar, an engineer who worked for National Semiconductor.[155] Despite this, Google has faced accusations in Harper's Magazine of being extremely excessive with their energy usage, and were accused of employing their "Don't be evil" motto as well as their very public energy saving campaigns as means of trying to cover up or make up for the massive amounts of energy their servers actually require.[156]
Easter eggs and April Fool's Day jokes
Main article: Google's hoaxes
Google has a tradition of creating April Fool's Day jokes. For example, Google MentalPlex allegedly featured the use of mental power to search the web.[157] In 2007, Google announced a free Internet service called TiSP, or Toilet Internet Service Provider, where one obtained a connection by flushing one end of a fiber-optic cable down their toilet.[158] Also in 2007, Google's Gmail page displayed an announcement for Gmail Paper, allowing users to have email messages printed and shipped to them.[159] In 2010, Google jokingly changed its company name to Topeka in honor of Topeka, Kansas, whose mayor actually changed the city's name to Google for a short amount of time in an attempt to sway Google's decision in its new Google Fiber Project.[160][161]
In addition to April Fool's Day jokes, Google's services contain a number of Easter eggs. For instance, Google included the Swedish Chef's "Bork bork bork," Pig Latin, "Hacker" or leetspeak, Elmer Fudd, and Klingon as language selections for its search engine.[162] In addition, the search engine calculator provides the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything from Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.[163] Furthemore, when searching the word "recursion", the spell-checker's result for the properly spelled word is exactly the same word, creating a recursive link.[164] In Google Maps, searching for directions between places separated by large bodies of water, such as Los Angeles and Tokyo, results in instructions to "kayak across the Pacific Ocean." During FIFA World Cup 2010, search queries like 'world cup', 'fifa', etc. will cause the Goooo...gle page indicator at the bottom of every result page to read Goooo...al! instead.
Philanthropy
Main article: Google.org
In 2004, Google formed the not-for-profit philanthropic Google.org, with a start-up fund of $1 billion.[165] The mission of the organization is to create awareness about climate change, global public health, and global poverty. One of its first projects was to develop a viable plug-in hybrid electric vehicle that can attain 100 miles per gallon. Google hired Dr. Larry Brilliant as the program's executive director in 2004[166] and the current director is Megan Smith.[167]
In 2008 Google announced its "project 10100" which accepted ideas for how to help the community and then allowed Google users to vote on their favorites.[168]
Network neutrality
Google is a noted supporter of network neutrality. According to Google's Guide to Net Neutrality:
Network neutrality is the principle that Internet users should be in control of what content they view and what applications they use on the Internet. The Internet has operated according to this neutrality principle since its earliest days... Fundamentally, net neutrality is about equal access to the Internet. In our view, the broadband carriers should not be permitted to use their market power to discriminate against competing applications or content. Just as telephone companies are not permitted to tell consumers who they can call or what they can say, broadband carriers should not be allowed to use their market power to control activity online.[169]
On February 7, 2006, Vinton Cerf, a co-inventor of the Internet Protocol (IP), and current Vice President and "Chief Internet Evangelist" at Google, in testimony before Congress, said, "allowing broadband carriers to control what people see and do online would fundamentally undermine the principles that have made the Internet such a success."[170]
Criticism
Main article: Criticism of Google
Google has stated that its goal is "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful", but has faced criticism on a range of issues.[11] Areas of criticism have included copyright, privacy, and censorship. In 2003, The New York Times complained that Google's caching of content on their site infringed on their copyright for the content.[171] In this case, the United States District Court of Nevada ruled in favor of Google in Field v. Google and Parker v. Google.[172][173] The Authors Guild, a group that represents 8,000 U.S. authors, filed a class action suit in a Manhattan federal court against Google in 2005 over its scanning and copying of books through its Google Library program. Google replied that it is in compliance with all existing and historical applications of copyright laws regarding books.[174]
On December 2009, Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt, declared after privacy concerns: "If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place. If you really need that kind of privacy, the reality is that search engines — including Google — do retain this information for some time and it's important, for example, that we are all subject in the United States to the Patriot Act and it is possible that all that information could be made available to the authorities."[175] Privacy International ranked Google as "Hostile to Privacy", its lowest rating on their report, making Google the only company in the list to receive that ranking.[176][177]
The non-profit group Public Information Research launched Google Watch, a website advertised as "a look at Google's monopoly, algorithms, and privacy issues."[178][179] The site raised questions relating to Google's storage of cookies, which in 2007 had a life span of more than 32 years and incorporated a unique ID that enabled creation of a user data log.[180] Google Watch has also criticized Google's PageRank algorithms, saying that they discriminate against new websites and favor established sites,[181] and has made allegations about connections between Google and the NSA and the CIA.[182] Google's has also faced criticism with its release of Google Buzz, Google's version of social networking, where Gmail users had their contact lists automatically made public unless they opted out.[183]
Google has been criticized for its censorship of certain sites in specific countries and regions. Until March 2010, Google adhered to the Internet censorship policies of China, enforced by means of filters known colloquially as "The Great Firewall of China".[184]
See also
San Francisco Bay Area portal
Companies portal
* Google logo
* Google China
* Google Ventures – venture capital fund
* Googlebot – web crawler
* Google Platform
References
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3. ^ a b c d e U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (2009). "Form 10-K". Washington, D.C.: United States of America. Part II, Item 6. http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1288776/000... Retrieved February 18, 2010.
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5. ^ See: List of Google products.
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Yahoo!
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This article is about the corporation. For other uses, see Yahoo (disambiguation).
Yahoo! Inc. Yahoo Logo.svg
Type Public (NASDAQ: YHOO)
Industry Internet, Computer software
Founded Santa Clara, California
(March 1, 1995)
Founder(s) Jerry Yang
David Filo
Headquarters 701 First Ave. Sunnyvale, California, United States
Area served Worldwide
Key people Carol Bartz (CEO)
Roy J. Bostock (Chairman)
Jerry Yang (Co-founder)
David Filo (Co-founder)
Products See list of Yahoo products.
Revenue ▼ $6.460 billion (2009)[1]
Operating income ▼ $3.589 billion (2009)[1]
Profit ▲ $597.99 million (2009)[1]
Total assets ▲ $14.936 billion (2009)[1]
Total equity ▲ $12.493 billion (2009)[1]
Employees 13,900 (Q4 2009)[2]
Subsidiaries List of acquisitions by Yahoo!
Website Yahoo.com
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) is an American public corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, (in Silicon Valley), that provides Internet services worldwide. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine (Yahoo! Search), Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, advertising, online mapping (Yahoo! Maps), video sharing (Yahoo! Video), and social media websites and services. As of January, 2010, Yahoo held the world's largest market share in online display advertising. JP Morgan put the company’s US market share for display ads at 17%, well ahead of No. 2 Microsoft at 11% and AOL at 7%.[3]
Yahoo! was founded by Jerry Yang and David Filo in January 1994 and was incorporated on March 1, 1995. On January 13, 2009, Yahoo! appointed Carol Bartz, former executive chairperson of Autodesk, as its new chief executive officer and a member of the board of directors.[4]
According to Web traffic analysis companies (including Compete.com, comScore,[5] Alexa Internet,[6] Netcraft,[7] and Nielsen ratings),[8] the domain yahoo.com attracted at least 1.575 billion visitors annually by 2008.[9] The global network of Yahoo! websites receives 3.4 billion page views per day on average as of October 2007[update].
Contents
[hide]
* 1 History and growth
o 1.1 Early history (1994–1999)
o 1.2 Dot-com bubble (2000–2001)
o 1.3 Post dot-com bubble (2002–2009)
+ 1.3.1 Acquisition attempt by Microsoft
+ 1.3.2 Change in direction under Carol Bartz
* 2 Products and services
o 2.1 Storing personal information
o 2.2 Communication
o 2.3 Content
o 2.4 Co-branded Internet services
o 2.5 Mobile
o 2.6 oneSearch
o 2.7 Commerce
o 2.8 Small business
o 2.9 Advertising
o 2.10 Yahoo! Next
o 2.11 Yahoo! BOSS
o 2.12 Yahoo! Meme
* 3 Revenue model
* 4 Criticism and controversy
o 4.1 Nazi memorabilia controversy
o 4.2 Yahoo! paid inclusion controversy
o 4.3 Adware and spyware
o 4.4 Work in the People's Republic of China
+ 4.4.1 Imprisonment of Chinese dissidents
# 4.4.1.1 Shi Tao
# 4.4.1.2 Li Zhi
# 4.4.1.3 Sued in US court for outing Chinese dissident Wang Xiaoning
o 4.5 Chatrooms and message boards
o 4.6 Image search
o 4.7 Shark finning controversy
o 4.8 Closing Down Services
+ 4.8.1 Closing down Geocities
+ 4.8.2 Closing down Yahoo! 360° beta
+ 4.8.3 Closing Down Mash Beta
+ 4.8.4 Closing Down Yahoo Photos
+ 4.8.5 Closing down Yahoo! Tech
+ 4.8.6 Other discontinued services
* 5 Yahoo subject of cyber attacks originating in China
* 6 Financial data
* 7 Yahoo! International
* 8 Logos and themes
* 9 See also
* 10 Notes and references
* 11 External links
[edit] History and growth
See also: Timeline of events for Yahoo!
[edit] Early history (1994–1999)
Left: David Filo. Right: Jerry Yang
In January 1994, Jerry Yang and David Filo were Electrical Engineering graduate students at Stanford University. In April 1994, "Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web" was renamed "Yahoo!", for which the official backronym is "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle".[10][11] Filo and Yang said they selected the name because they liked the word's general definition, which comes from Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift: "rude, unsophisticated and uncouth".[12] Its URL was akebono.stanford.edu/yahoo.[13]
The yahoo.com domain was created on January 18, 1995.[14] Yang and Filo realized their website had massive business potential, and on March 1, 1995, Yahoo! was incorporated.[15] On April 5, 1995, Michael Moritz of Sequoia Capital provided Yahoo! with two rounds of venture capital, raising approximately $3 million.[16][17] On April 12, 1996, Yahoo! had its initial public offering, raising $33.8 million, by selling 2.6 million shares at $13 each.
Like many web search engines and web directories, Yahoo! diversified into a web portal. In the late 1990s, Yahoo!, MSN, Lycos, Excite and other Web portals were growing rapidly. Web portal providers rushed to acquire companies to expand their range of services, in the hope of increasing the time a user stayed at the portal.
On March 8, 1997, Yahoo! acquired online communications company Four11. Four11's webmail service, RocketMail, became Yahoo! Mail. Yahoo! also acquired ClassicGames.com and turned it into Yahoo! Games. Yahoo! then acquired direct marketing company Yoyodyne Entertainment, Inc. on October 12. On March 8, 1998, Yahoo! launched Yahoo! Pager,[18] an instant messaging service that was renamed Yahoo! Messenger a year later. On January 28, 1999, Yahoo! acquired web hosting provider GeoCities. Another company Yahoo! acquired was eGroups, which became Yahoo! Groups after the acquisition on June 28, 2000.
Yahoo! headquarters in Sunnyvale
[edit] Dot-com bubble (2000–2001)
Yahoo! stock doubled in price in the last month of 1999.[19] On January 3, 2000, at the height of the Dot-com boom, Yahoo! stocks closed at an all-time high of $118.75 a share. Sixteen days later, shares in Yahoo! Japan became the first stocks in Japanese history to trade at over ¥100,000,000, reaching a price of ¥101.4 million ($94,780 at that time).[20]
On February 7, 2000, the Yahoo! domain was brought to a halt for a few hours as it was the victim of a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS).[21] On the next day, its shares rose about $16, or 4.5 percent as the failure was blamed on hackers rather than on an internal glitch, unlike a fault with eBay earlier that year.
During the dot-com boom, the cable news station CNBC also reported that Yahoo! and eBay were discussing a 50/50 merger.[22] Although the merger never materialized the two companies decided to form a marketing/advertising alliance six years later in 2006.[23]
On June 26, 2000, Yahoo! and Google signed an agreement which retained Google as the default worldwide-web search engine for Yahoo! following a beta trial in 1999.[24]
[edit] Post dot-com bubble (2002–2009)
Yahoo! was one of the surviving large Internet companies after the dot-com bubble burst. Nevertheless, on September 26, 2001, Yahoo! stocks closed at a five-year low of $4.06 (split-adjusted).
Yahoo! formed partnerships with telecommunications and Internet providers to create content-rich broadband services to compete with AOL. On June 3, 2002, SBC and Yahoo! launched a national co-branded dial-up Internet access service.[25] In July 2003, BT Group Openworld announced an alliance with Yahoo!.[26] On August 23, 2005, Yahoo! and Verizon Communications launched an integrated DSL service.[27]
In late 2002, Yahoo! began to bolster its search services by acquiring other search engines. In December 2002, Yahoo! acquired Inktomi Corporation. In February 2005, Yahoo! acquired Konfabulator and rebranded it Yahoo! Widgets,[28] a desktop application and in July 2003, it acquired Overture Services, Inc. and its subsidiaries AltaVista and AlltheWeb. On February 18, 2004, Yahoo! dropped Google-powered results and returned to using its own technology to provide search results.
In 2004, in response to Google's release of Gmail, Yahoo! upgraded the storage of all free Yahoo! Mail accounts from 4 MB to 1 GB, and all Yahoo! Mail Plus accounts to 2 GB. On July 9, 2004, Yahoo! acquired e-mail provider Oddpost to add an Ajax interface to Yahoo! Mail.[29] On October 13, 2005, Yahoo! and Microsoft announced that Yahoo! Messenger and MSN Messenger would become interoperable. In 2007, Yahoo! took out the storage meters, thus allowing users unlimited storage.
Yahoo! continued acquiring companies to expand its range of services, particularly Web 2.0 services. Yahoo! Launchcast became Yahoo! Music on February 9, 2005. On March 20, 2005, Yahoo! purchased photo sharing service Flickr.[30] On March 29, 2005, the company launched its blogging and social networking service Yahoo! 360°. In June 2005, Yahoo! acquired blo.gs, a service based on RSS feed aggregation. Yahoo! then bought online social event calendar Upcoming.org on October 4, 2005. Yahoo! acquired social bookmark site del.icio.us on December 9, 2005 and then playlist sharing community Webjay on January 9, 2006.
On August 27, 2007, Yahoo! released a new version of Yahoo! Mail. It adds Yahoo! Messenger integration. (which includes Windows Live Messenger due to the networks' federation) and free text messages (not necessarily free to the receiver) to mobile phones in the U.S., Canada, India and the Philippines.[31]
On January 29, 2008, Yahoo! announced that the company was laying off 1,000 employees as the company had suffered severely in its inability to effectively compete with industry search leader Google. The cuts represent 7 percent of the company's workforce of 14,300. Employees are being invited to apply for an unknown number of new positions that are expected to open as the company expands areas that promise faster growth.[32]
In February, 2008, Yahoo! acquired Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Maven Networks, a supplier of internet video players and video advertising tools, for approx. $160 million.
Yahoo! announced on November 17, 2008 that Yang would be stepping down as CEO.[33]
On December 10, 2008, Yahoo! began laying off 1,520 employees around the world as the company managed its way through the global economic downturn.[34] By carefully managing expenses, Yahoo! has remained one of the most profitable pure-Internet companies in the world[35] , and maintains billions of dollars on its balance sheet,[36] despite continued "softness" in the advertising world.
[edit] Acquisition attempt by Microsoft
Microsoft and Yahoo! pursued merger discussions in 2005, 2006, and 2007, that were all ultimately unsuccessful. At the time, analysts were skeptical about the wisdom of a business combination.[37][38]
On February 1, 2008, after its friendly takeover offer was rebuffed by Yahoo!, Microsoft made an unsolicited takeover bid to buy Yahoo! for US$44.6 billion in cash and stock.[39][40] Days later, Yahoo! considered alternatives to the merger with Microsoft, including a merger with internet giant Google[41] or a potential transaction with News Corp.[42] However, on February 11, 2008, Yahoo! decided to reject Microsoft's offer as "substantially undervaluing" Yahoo!'s brand, audience, investments, and growth prospects.[43] As of February 22, two Detroit based pension companies have sued Yahoo! and their board of directors for breaching their duty to shareholders by opposing Microsoft's takeover bid and pursuing "value destructive" third-party deals.[44][dead link] In early March, Google CEO Eric Schmidt went on record saying that he was concerned that a potential MICROSOFT-Yahoo! merger might hurt the Internet by compromising its openness.[45] The value of Microsoft's cash and stock offer declined with Microsoft's stock price, falling to $42.2 billion by April 4.[46] On April 5, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer sent a letter to Yahoo!'s board of directors stating that if within three weeks they had not accepted the deal, Microsoft would approach shareholders directly in hopes of electing a new board and moving forward with merger talks; this is known as a hostile takeover.[47] In response, Yahoo! stated on April 7 that they were not against a merger, but that they wanted a better offer. In addition, they stated that Microsoft's "aggressive" approach was worsening their relationship and the chances of a "friendly" merger.[48] Later the same day, Yahoo! stated that the original $45 billion offer was not acceptable.[48] Following this, there has been considerable discussion of having Time Warner's AOL and Yahoo! merge, instead of the originally proposed Microsoft deal.[49]
On May 3, 2008, Microsoft withdrew the offer. During a meeting between Ballmer and Yang, Microsoft had offered to raise its offer by $5 billion to $33 per share, while Yahoo! demanded $37. One of Ballmer's lieutenants suggested that Yang would implement a poison pill to make the takeover as difficult as possible, saying "They are going to burn the furniture if we go hostile. They are going to destroy the place."[50][51]
Analysts said that Yahoo!'s shares, which closed at $28.67 on May 2, were likely to drop below $25 and perhaps as low as $20 on May 5, which would put significant pressure on Yang to engineer a turnaround of the company. Some suggested that institutional investors would file lawsuits against Yahoo!'s board of directors for not acting in shareholder interest by refusing Microsoft's offer.[52][53]
On May 5, 2008, following Microsoft's withdrawal Yahoo!'s stock plunged some 15% lower to $23.02 in Monday trading and trimmed about $6 billion off of its market capitalization.[54]
After Microsoft's failed bid to acquire Yahoo!, Microsoft is rumored to be looking at acquiring LiveDoor, a leading Japanese portal and the leading blogging service in Japan, to strengthen its position against Yahoo! Japan.
On June 12, 2008, Yahoo announced that it had ended all talks with Microsoft about purchasing either part of the business (the search advertising business) or all of the company. Talks had taken place the previous weekend (June 8), during which Microsoft allegedly told Yahoo that it was no longer interested in a purchase of the entire company at the price offered earlier -- $33/share. Also on June 12, Yahoo announced a non-exclusive search advertising alliance with Google.[55] Upon this announcement, many executives and senior employees announced their plans to leave the company as it appears that they lost confidence in Yahoo's strategies. According to market analysts, these pending departures impacted Wall Street's perception of the company.[56]
On July 7, 2008, Microsoft said it would reconsider proposing another bid for Yahoo if the company's nine directors were ousted at the annual meeting scheduled to be held on August 1, 2008. Microsoft believes it would be able to better negotiate with a new board.[57]
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn, calling the current board irrational in its approach to talks with Microsoft, launched a proxy fight to replace Yahoo's board. On July 21, 2008 Yahoo settled with Carl Icahn, agreeing to appoint him and two allies to an expanded board.
On November 20, 2008, almost 10 months after Microsoft's initial offer of $33 per share, Yahoo's stock (YHOO) dropped to a 52-week low, trading at only $8.94 per share.[58]
On November 30, 2008, Microsoft offered to buy Yahoo's Search business for $20 billion.[59]
On July 29, 2009, it was announced with a 10 year deal that Microsoft will have full access to Yahoo search engine to be used in Microsoft future projects for its search engine Bing.[60] Under the deal, Microsoft was not required to pay any cash up front to Yahoo. The day after the deal was announced, Yahoo's share price declined more than 10% to $15.14, about 60% lower than Microsoft's takeover bid a year earlier.
[edit] Change in direction under Carol Bartz
Yahoo! has tried to change its direction since chief executive Carol Bartz replaced co-founder Jerry Yang in January 2009.[61]
In July, Microsoft and Yahoo! agreed to a deal that will see Yahoo!'s websites use both Microsoft's search technology and search advertising. Yahoo! in turn will become the sales team for banner advertising for both companies. While Microsoft will provide algorithmic search results, Yahoo! will control the presentation and personalization of results for searches on its pages. This deal is not expected to be finalised before spring 2010 and is awaiting regulatory approval.
On July 21, 2009, Yahoo! launched a new version of its front page, called Metro. The new page allows users to customize it through the prominent "My Favorites" panel on the left side and integrate third-party web services and launch them within one page. Such applications include pages of Netflix, E-trade, Facebook, and other sites.[62]
[edit] Products and services
Main article: List of Yahoo-owned sites and services
Yahoo! provides a wide array of internet services that cater to most online activities. It operates the web portal http://www.yahoo.com which provides content including the latest news, entertainment, and sports information, and gives users quick access to other Yahoo! services like Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Maps, Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! Groups and Yahoo! Messenger. The majority of the product offerings are available globally in more than 20 languages.
[edit] Storing personal information
As of December 11, 2007, Google and Microsoft's Bing "store personal information for 18 months" and Yahoo! and AOL (Time Warner) "retain search requests for 13 months".[63]
[edit] Communication
Yahoo! provides internet communication services such as Yahoo! Messenger and Yahoo! Mail, the largest e-mail service in the world, with almost half the market share.[64] In March 2007, Yahoo! announced that their e-mail service would offer unlimited storage beginning May 2007.[65]
Yahoo! also offers social networking services and user-generated content in products such as My Web, Yahoo! Personals, Yahoo! 360°, Delicious, Flickr, and Yahoo! Buzz.
Yahoo! Photos was shut down on September 20, 2007 in favor of Flickr. On October 16, 2007, Yahoo! announced that they will no longer provide support or perform bug fixes on Yahoo! 360° as they intend to abandon it in early 2008 in favor of a "universal profile" that will be similar to their Mash experimental system.[66]
[edit] Content
Yahoo! partners with hundreds of premier content providers in products such as Yahoo! Sports, Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! Music, Yahoo! Movies, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Answers and Yahoo! Games to provide media contents and news. Yahoo! also provides a personalization service, My Yahoo!, which enables users to collect their favorite Yahoo! features, content feeds, and information into a single page.
On March 31, 2008 Yahoo! launched Shine, another Yahoo! property dedicated to women between the ages of 25 and 54. Yahoo! called this demographic underserved by current Yahoo! properties.[67]
[edit] Co-branded Internet services
Yahoo! has developed partnerships with different broadband providers such as AT&T (via BellSouth & SBC), Verizon Communications, Rogers Communications and British Telecom, offering a range of free and premium Yahoo! content and services to subscribers.
[edit] Mobile
Yahoo! Mobile includes services for on-the-go messaging, such as email, instant messaging, and mobile blogging; information, such as search and alerts; and fun and games, including ring tones, mobile games, and Yahoo! Photos for camera phones. These require software to be installed on the user's device.
[edit] oneSearch
Yahoo! introduced its Internet search system, called oneSearch, developed for mobile phones on March 20, 2007. The company's officials stated that in distinction from ordinary Web searches, Yahoo!'s new service presents a list of actual information, which may include: news headlines, images from Yahoo!'s Flickr photos site, business listings, local weather and links to other sites. Instead of showing only, for example, popular movies or some critical reviews, oneSearch lists local theaters that at the moment are playing a certain movie, user ratings and news headlines regarding the movie. A zip code or city name is required for Yahoo! oneSearch to start delivering local search results.
The results of a Web search are listed on a single page and are prioritized into categories. The list of results is based on calculations that Yahoo! computers make on certain information the user is seeking.[68]
Yahoo! has announced they also plan to adopt Novarra's mobile content transcoding service for the oneSearch platform.[69]
[edit] Commerce
Yahoo! offers commerce services such as Yahoo! Shopping, Yahoo! Autos, Yahoo! Real Estate and Yahoo! Travel, which enables users to gather relevant information and make commercial transactions and purchases online. In addition, Yahoo! offers an e-commerce platform called Yahoo! Merchant Solutions (also known as Yahoo! Store) and hosts more Top 500 internet retailers than any other hosted e-commerce solution. Yahoo! Auctions were discontinued in 2007 except for Asia.[70]
[edit] Small business
Yahoo! provides services such as Yahoo! Domains, Yahoo! Web Hosting, Yahoo! Merchant Solutions, Yahoo! Business Email, and Yahoo! Store to small business owners and professionals allowing them to build their own online stores using Yahoo!'s tools.
Yahoo! also offers HotJobs to help recruiters find the talent they seek.
[edit] Advertising
Yahoo! Search Marketing provides services such as Sponsored Search, Local Advertising, and Product/Travel/Directory Submit that let different businesses advertise their products and services on the Yahoo! network. Yahoo! Publisher Network is an advertising tool for online publishers to place advertisements relevant to their content to monetize their websites.[71]
Yahoo! launched its new Internet advertisement sales system on February 5, 2007 called Panama. It allows advertisers to bid for search terms based on their popularity to display their ads on search results pages. The system takes bids, ad quality, click-through rates and other factors into consideration in determining how ads are ranked on search results pages. Through Panama, Yahoo! aims to provide more relevant search results to users, a better overall experience, as well as increase monetization—to earn more from the ads it shows.[72]
On April 7, 2008, Yahoo! announced APT from Yahoo!, which was originally called AMP! from Yahoo!,[73] an online advertising management platform.[74] The platform seeks to simplify advertising sales by unifying buyer and seller markets. The service was launched in September 2008.[75]
[edit] Yahoo! Next
Yahoo! Next is an incubation ground for future Yahoo! technologies currently in their beta testing phase. It contains forums for Yahoo! users to give feedback to assist in the development of these future Yahoo! technologies. it was created by Jerry Page and David Shin.
[edit] Yahoo! BOSS
Yahoo! Search BOSS is a new service that allows developers to build search applications based on Yahoo!'s search technology.[76] Early Partners in the program include Hakia, Me.dium, Delver, Daylife and Yebol.[77]
[edit] Yahoo! Meme
Yahoo! Meme is a beta social service, similar to the popular social networking sites Twitter and Jaiku.
[edit] Revenue model
About 88% of total revenues for the fiscal year 2006 came from marketing services. The largest segment of it comes from search advertising, where advertisers bid for search terms to display their ads on the search results, on average Yahoo! makes 2.5 cents to 3 cents from each search. With the new search advertising system "Panama" Yahoo! aims to increase revenue generated from search.[78]
Other forms of advertising which bring in revenue for Yahoo! include display and contextual advertising.
Working with comScore, The New York Times found that Yahoo! is able to collect far more data about Web users than its competitors from its Web sites and its advertising network. By one measure, on average Yahoo! had the potential in December 2007 to build a profile of 2,500 records per month about each of its visitors.[79]
[edit] Criticism and controversy
[edit] Nazi memorabilia controversy
For more details on this topic, see LICRA v. Yahoo!.
In 2000, Yahoo! was taken to court in France by parties seeking to prevent French citizens from purchasing memorabilia relating to the Nazi Party. Yahoo! France had already instituted policies preventing the sale of Nazi memorabilia on its site, and prohibiting Nazi-based discussions on its message boards, but the parties sought to have Yahoo! introduce censorship technology to block French citizens from accessing similar material on Yahoo! websites in countries where local laws permitted Nazi related auctions/discussions.[80]
[edit] Yahoo! paid inclusion controversy
In March 2004, Yahoo! launched a paid inclusion program whereby commercial websites are guaranteed listings on the Yahoo! search engine after payment.[81] This scheme is lucrative, but has proved unpopular both with website marketers (who are reluctant to pay), and the public (who are unhappy about the paid-for listings being indistinguishable from other search results).[82] As of October 2006, Paid Inclusion doesn't guarantee any commercial listing, it only helps the paid inclusion customers, by crawling their site more often and by providing some statistics on the searches that led to the page and some additional smart links (provided by customers as feeds) below the actual url.
[edit] Adware and spyware
Yahoo! has also been criticized for providing ads via the Yahoo ad network to companies who display them through spyware and adware which display on-screen pop-ups, generated from adware that a user may have installed on their computer without realizing it, sometimes by accepting online offers to download software to fix computer clocks or improve computer security, add browser enhancements, etc. As an example, users who have allowed their machine to become infected with spyware will see advertising pop-ups generated from advertising distributor Walnut Ventures, who had a direct partnership with Direct Revenue.[83][84]
[edit] Work in the People's Republic of China
“ While technologically and financially you [Yahoo] are giants, morally you are pygmies[85] ”
—Tom Lantos, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee (2007)
Yahoo!, along with Google China, Microsoft, Cisco Systems, AOL, Skype, Nortel and others, has cooperated with the Chinese government in implementing a system of internet censorship in mainland China.
Unlike Google or Microsoft, which keep confidential records of its users outside mainland China, Yahoo! stated that the company will not protect the privacy and confidentiality of its Chinese customers from the authorities.[86]
Human rights advocates such as Human Rights Watch and media groups such as Reporters Without Borders state that it is "ironic that companies whose existence depends on freedom of information and expression have taken on the role of censor."[87]
[edit] Imprisonment of Chinese dissidents
[edit] Shi Tao
Main article: Shi Tao
In September 2005, Reporters Without Borders reported the following story. In April 2005, Shi Tao, a journalist working for a Chinese newspaper, was sentenced to 10 years in prison by the Changsha Intermediate People's Court of Hunan Province, China (First trial case no. 29), for "providing state secrets to foreign entities". The "secrets" were a brief list of censorship orders he sent from a Yahoo! Mail account to the Asia Democracy Forum before the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Incident.[88]
The verdict[89] as published by the Chinese government stated the following. Shi Tao had sent the email through an anonymous Yahoo! account. Yahoo! Holdings (the Hong Kong subsidiary of Yahoo) told the Chinese government that the IP address used to send the email was registered by the Hunan newspaper that Shi Tao worked for. Police went straight to his offices and picked him up.
In February 2006, Yahoo! General Counsel submitted a statement to the U.S. Congress in which Yahoo! denied knowing the true nature of the case against Shi Tao.[90] In April 2006, Yahoo! Holdings (Hong Kong) was investigated by Hong Kong's Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data.
On 2 June 2006, the union representing journalists in the UK and Ireland (National Union of Journalists) called on its 40,000 members to boycott all Yahoo! Inc. products and services to protest the Internet company's reported actions in China.[91]
In July 2007, evidence surfaced detailing the warrant which the Chinese authorities sent to Yahoo! officials, highlighting "State Secrets" as the charge against Shi Tao. The warrant requests "Email account registration information for [email protected], all login times, corresponding IP addresses, and relevant email content from February 22, 2004 to present."[92][93][94] Analyst reports and human rights organizations have said that this evidence directly contradicts Yahoo!'s testimony before the U.S. Congress in February 2006.[95]
Yahoo! contends it must respect the laws of governments in jurisdictions where it is operating.
[edit] Li Zhi
Main article: Li Zhi (dissident)
Criticism of Yahoo! intensified in February 2006 when Reporters Without Borders released Chinese court documents stating that Yahoo! aided Chinese authorities in the case of dissident Li Zhi. In December 2003 Li Zhi was sentenced to 8 years imprisonment for "inciting subversion".
[edit] Sued in US court for outing Chinese dissident Wang Xiaoning
Main article: Wang Xiaoning
Wang Xiaoning is a Chinese dissident from Shenyang who was arrested by authorities of the People's Republic of China for publishing controversial material online.
In 2000 and 2001, Wang, who was an engineer by profession, posted electronic journals in a Yahoo! group calling for democratic reform and an end to single-party rule. He was arrested in September 2002 after Yahoo! assisted Chinese authorities by providing information. In September 2003, Wang was convicted of charges of "incitement to subvert state power" and sentenced to ten years in prison.[96]
On April 18, 2007, Xiaoning's wife Yu Ling sued Yahoo! under human rights laws in federal court in San Francisco, California, United States.[97] Wang Xiaoning is named as a plaintiff in the Yahoo! suit, which was filed with help from the World Organization for Human Rights USA. "Yahoo! is guilty of 'an act of corporate irresponsibility,'" said Morton Sklar, executive director of the group. "Yahoo! had reason to know that if they provided China with identification information that those individuals would be arrested."[98]
Yahoo!'s decision to assist China's authoritarian government came as part of a policy of reconciling its services with the Chinese government's policies. This came after China blocked Yahoo! services for a time. As reported in The Washington Post and many media sources:
The suit says that in 2001, Wang was using a Yahoo! e-mail account to post anonymous writings to an Internet mailing list. The suit alleges that Yahoo!, under pressure from the Chinese government, blocked that account. Wang set up a new account via Yahoo! and began sending material again; the suit alleges that Yahoo! gave the government information that allowed it to identify and arrest Wang in September 2002. The suit says prosecutors in the Chinese courts cited Yahoo!'s cooperation.[98]
Human rights organizations groups are basing their case on a 217-year-old U.S. law to punish corporations for human rights violations abroad, an effort the Bush administration has opposed:
In recent years, activists working with overseas plaintiffs have sued roughly two dozen businesses under the Alien Tort Statute, which the activists say grants jurisdiction to American courts over acts abroad that violate international norms. Written by the Founding Fathers in 1789 for a different purpose, the law was rarely invoked until the 1980s.[98]
On August 28, 2007, the World Organization for Human Rights sued Yahoo! for allegedly passing information (email and IP address) with the Chinese government that caused the arrests of writers and dissidents. The lawsuit was filed in San Francisco for journalists, Shi Tao, and Wang Xiaoning. Yahoo! stated that it supported privacy and free expression for it worked with other technology companies to solve human rights concerns.[99]
On November 6, 2007, the US congressional panel criticized Yahoo! for not giving full details to the House Foreign Affairs Committee the previous year, stating it had been "at best inexcusably negligent" and at worst "deceptive".[100]
[edit] Chatrooms and message boards
As a result of media scrutiny relating to Internet child predators and a lack of significant ad revenues, Yahoo!'s "user created" chatrooms were closed down in June 2005.[101] Yahoo! News' message board section was closed December 19, 2006, due to the trolling phenomenon.[102]
In 2009, it was discovered that Yahoo!'s message boards were prone to a vulnerability that allowed board participants to execute JavaScript on reader's computers as they searched the boards. Using this cross-site scripting bug, one could also grab a user's Yahoo! cookie, which could then be used to impersonate them online, even without their Yahoo! password. Yahoo! fixed the vulnerability in September 2009.[103]
[edit] Image search
On May 25, 2006, Yahoo!'s image search was criticized for bringing up sexually explicit images even when SafeSearch was on. This was discovered by a teacher who was intending to use the service with a class to search for "www". Yahoo!'s response to this was, "Yahoo! is aware of this issue and is working to resolve it as quickly as possible".[104]
[edit] Shark finning controversy
Yahoo! is a 40% owner of Alibaba, which facilitates the sale of shark-derived products.[105] After investing in Alibaba, Yahoo! executives were asked about this issue, and responded: "We know the sale of shark products is both legal in Asia and a centuries-old tradition. This issue is largely a cultural-practices one."[106] As a minority-owner of Alibaba, Yahoo! is not able to directly control that company's actions in China.
[edit] Closing Down Services
[edit] Closing down Geocities
Geocities was a popular web hosting service founded in 1994. At one point it was the 3rd most-browsed site on the World Wide Web.[107] Yahoo! purchased Geocities in 1999. Ten years later Yahoo! closed Geocities,[108] deleting millions of web pages in the process. A great deal of information was certainly lost but many of those sites & pages have been mirrored at the Internet Archive,[109] "OOcities.com", and more.[110]
[edit] Closing down Yahoo! 360° beta
Yahoo! 360° was a popular blogging/social networking beta service launched in March 2005 by Yahoo!. On July 13, 2009 Yahoo closed it down.[111]
[edit] Closing Down Mash Beta
Yahoo! Mash beta was another social service closed after one year of operation. It never left Beta.[112]
[edit] Closing Down Yahoo Photos
Yahoo! Photos was shut down on September 20, 2007 in favor of integration with Flickr
[edit] Closing down Yahoo! Tech
Yahoo! Tech was a web site that provides product information and setup advice to users. Yahoo! launched the web site in May 2006. On February 11, 2010 Yahoo announced that it would close down Yahoo! Tech on 11 March. The site thereafter will redirect users to Yahoo!'s technology news section.[113]
[edit] Other discontinued services
Other discontinued services include Farechase, My Web, Audio Search, Pets, Live, Kickstart, Briefcase, and Yahoo! for Teachers.[114] For Complete list of closed services see: List of other Yahoo! closed and defunct services
[edit] Yahoo subject of cyber attacks originating in China
Adobe and Yahoo appear to have been among the targets of cyber attacks originating in China that prompted Google Inc. to threaten to leave the Asian nation in a surprise announcement on January 12, 2010.[115]
[edit] Financial data
Financial data, US$ million[116] Year 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Sales 1 625 3 574 5 258 6 426 6 969
EBITDA 453 1 000 1 505 1 066
Net Results 238 840 1 896 751 660
Staff 5 500 7 600 9 800 11 400
[edit] Yahoo! International
Yahoo! is known across the world with its multi-lingual interface. The site is available in over 20 languages, including English. The official directory for all of the Yahoo! International sites is world.yahoo.com.
Each of the international sites are wholly-owned by Yahoo!, with the exception of Yahoo! Japan, in which it holds a 34.79% minority stake[117] and Yahoo!7 in Australia which is a 50-50 agreement between Yahoo! and The Seven Network. Historically, Yahoo! entered into joint venture agreements with Softbank for the major European sites (UK, France, Germany) and well as Korea and Japan. In November 2005, Yahoo! purchased the minority interests that Softbank owned in Europe and Korea.
Yahoo! holds a 40% stake in Alibaba, which manages a web portal in China using the Yahoo! brand name. Yahoo! in the USA does not have direct control over the operations of Alibaba, which operates as a completely independent company.
In 2008, Darren Petterson, business development director for Yahoo! Europe confirmed that Yahoo! was going to launch a Romanian version of their website by the end of the year,[118][119] however, due to the financial crisis at that time, those plans were frozen.[120] In February 2010, new reports appeared in the Romanian media claiming that the portal will finally launch by June the same year, as some services like Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Mobile are already translated into Romanian.[121][122]
[edit] Logos and themes
The first logo was used when the company was founded in 1995. It was red and had three icons on each side.[123]
The logo used on the main page yahoo.com used to be red with a black outline and shadow, but in May 2009, along with a new theme redesign, the logo was changed to purple with no outline or shadow.
Sometimes, the logo is abbreviated with Y!.[124]
Themes and page designs are different on some international Yahoo! home pages, such as Yahoo! Australia.
[edit] See also
San Francisco Bay Area portal
Companies portal
Internet portal
* Criticism of Yahoo!
* List of acquisitions by Yahoo!
* List of search engines
* List of web analytics software
* Yahoo! Guesthouse
* Yahoo! Kids A kids based website
* YMSG - Yahoo! Messenger Protocol
[edit] Notes and references
1. ^ a b c d e YHOO Investor Relations (2009-09-01). "Annual Report 2009, Financial Highlights". Yahoo.com. Yahoo. http://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ:YHOO&fs... Retrieved 2009-10-07.
2. ^ "Yahoo! Investor Relations: Frequently Asked Questions". Yahoo! Investor Relations'. http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/faq.cfm. Retrieved 2010-04-03.
3. ^ Yahoo Pitch to Advertisers: We Sell Ginormous Ads.
4. ^ Rob Hof (2009). "Confirmed: Carol Bartz Named Yahoo CEO: Can She Turn It Around?". Business Week. http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/ar... Retrieved 2009-01-14.
5. ^ "Fox Interactive Media Ranks #1 in Page Views; Yahoo! Sites Attract the Most Unique Visitors". comScore. http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=11... Retrieved 2008-02-12.
6. ^ "Traffic History Graph for yahoo.com". Alexa Internet. http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/... Retrieved 2008-02-06.
7. ^ "Current Web Traffic stats for Yahoo". Netcraft. http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http:/... Retrieved 2008-08-16.
8. ^ Suzy Bausch; Leilani Han (2006). "Successful Sites Drive High Visitor Retention Rates". Nielsen ratings. http://www.nielsen-netratings.com/pr/pr_060511.pdf... Retrieved 2008-02-12.
9. ^ "Snapshot of yahoo.com". Compete.com. http://siteanalytics.compete.com/yahoo.com/?metric... Retrieved 2008-11-08.
10. ^ David G. Thomson (2006). Blueprint to a Billion. Wiley-Interscience. pp. 155. ISBN 9780471779186.
11. ^ Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web becomes "Yahoo!"
12. ^ Definition of "Yahoo!"
13. ^ "The History of Yahoo! - How It All Started...". Yahoo. http://docs.yahoo.com/info/misc/history.html. Retrieved 2008-02-22.
14. ^ "WHOIS information for: yahoo.com:". whois.net. http://whois.net/whois_new.cgi?d=yahoo&tld=com... Retrieved 2008-11-08.
15. ^ David Rapp (2006). "Inventing Yahoo!". American Heritage (magazine). http://www.americanheritage.com/events/articles/we... Retrieved 2008-02-22.
16. ^ Eric Schmidt (2007-05-03). "The Time 100 - Michael Moritz". Time (magazine). http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/time100/art... Retrieved 2008-11-08.
17. ^ "Yahoo Company Timeline". Archived from the original on 2008-02-13. http://web.archive.org/web/20080213120416/http://y... Retrieved 2008-08-18.
18. ^ "Stay In Touch With Yahoo! Pager". Yahoo. http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/press/ReleaseDe... Retrieved 2008-12-08.
19. ^ "YHOO: Historical Prices for Yahoo Inc - Yahoo! Finance". Yahoo! Finance. http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=YHOO&a=10&... Retrieved 2008-11-02.
20. ^ William Auckerman (2000). "Yahoo Japan Stock Breaks 100 Million Yen Barrier". Jupitermedia. http://www.internetnews.com/ent-news/print.php/289... Retrieved 2008-02-22.
21. ^ Seymour Bosworth; M. E. Kabay (2002). Computer Security Handbook. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 63. ISBN 978-0471269755.
22. ^ Saul Hansell; Laura M. Holson (2000-03-16). "The Markets: Market Place; Is the Online Auction King Ebay Going Once? Twice? Not Likely". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0... Retrieved 2009-01-05.
23. ^ "Yahoo, eBay form Web advertising alliance". Associated Press. 2006. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12970936/. Retrieved 2008-02-24.
24. ^ "GoogleAlert #2: Yahoo! Selects Google as its Default Search Engine Provider". google.com. http://www.google.com/googlefriends/alert2_2000.ht... Retrieved 2008-02-25.
25. ^ "Internet Leaders SBC and Yahoo! Launch National Co-Branded Dial Service". att.com. http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdv... Retrieved 2008-02-25.
26. ^ "Internet alliance BT and Yahoo!". telecom.paper.nl. http://www.telecom.paper.nl/news/article.aspx?id=3... Retrieved 2008-02-25. [dead link]
27. ^ "Verizon and Yahoo! Launch Integrated DSL Service Combining Broadband Speed with Premium Content". newscenter.verizon.com. http://newscenter.verizon.com/press-releases/veriz... Retrieved 2008-02-06.
28. ^ "Konfabulator 2.1: Ajax additions". ajaxian.com. http://ajaxian.com/archives/konfabulator-21-ajax-a... Retrieved 2008-02-25.
29. ^ "Yahoo acquires Oddpost to bolster e-mail". news.com. http://www.news.com/2100-1038_3-5266019.html. Retrieved 2008-02-25.
30. ^ "Yahoo actually does acquire Flickr". flickr.com. http://blog.flickr.net/en/2005/03/20/yahoo-actuall... Retrieved 2008-02-25.
31. ^ "SiliconRepublic: Yahoo releases new email service". siliconrepublic.com. http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyi... Retrieved 2008-02-25.
32. ^ Kopytoff, Verne (2008-01-30). "Yahoo to lay off 1,000". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2... Retrieved 2008-07-24.
33. ^ AP (2008-11-18). "Yahoo's Yang decides he's no longer the right CEO". Associated Press. http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20081118/ap_on_hi_te... Retrieved 2008-11-18. [dead link]
34. ^ Yahoo pink slips issued, recruiters circling above | Digital Media - CNET News.
35. ^ Yahoo! Annual Income Statement.
36. ^ Yahoo! Annual Balance Sheet.
37. ^ Mary Crane (May 3, 2006). "Microsoft, Yahoo In Possible Partnership Talks". Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/markets/bonds/2006/05/03/yah... Retrieved 2008-02-01.
38. ^ "Microsoft and Yahoo end on-again off-again talks to combine forces". Associated Press. May 4, 2007. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/04/business... Retrieved 2008-02-01.
39. ^ "Microsoft wants to purchase Yahoo". bbc.co.uk. 2008-02-01. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7222114.stm. Retrieved 2008-02-25.
40. ^ "Microsoft Offers to Buy Yahoo for $44.6 Billion". Bloomberg. February 1, 2008. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&am... Retrieved 2008-02-01.
41. ^ Jason, Mick (2008-02-06). "Microsoft May Borrow For Yahoo Deal; Yahoo Opts for Google Alliance". DailyTech. http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=10586... Retrieved 2008-02-06.
42. ^ Kafka, Peter (2008-02-12). "Yahoo-News Corp Still Talking, Deal Still Possible". AlleyInsider. http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/2/yahoo__news_cor... Retrieved 2008-03-18.
43. ^ "Yahoo! Board of Directors Says Microsoft's Proposal Substantially Undervalues Yahoo!". Business Wire. February 1, 2008. http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/press/releasede... Retrieved 2008-02-11.
44. ^ "Yahoo sued for spurning Microsoft" (in en). yahoo.com. http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080222/yahoo_shareholder_l... Retrieved 2008-02-23.
45. ^ "Microsoft's moves 'threaten net'" (in en). BBC News. 2008-03-17. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7300337.stm. Retrieved 2008-03-18.
46. ^ "Microsoft CEO sets deadline to Yahoo for deal". Reuters. 2008-04-05. http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssTechMediaTeleco... Retrieved 2008-04-10.
47. ^ "Microsoft sets deadline for Yahoo bid". MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23958838/. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
48. ^ a b "Microsoft-Yahoo fight reaches the turning point". MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23992701/. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
49. ^ "Yahoo brings two titans to the table". theaustralian.news.com.au. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197... Retrieved 2008-04-10.
50. ^ "Microsoft Withdraws Proposal to Acquire Yahoo!". Microsoft. http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/may0... Retrieved 2008-05-03.
51. ^ Lohr, Steve (2008-05-05). "Microsoft's Failed Yahoo Bid Risks Online Growth". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/05/technology/05sof... Retrieved 2008-05-06.
52. ^ Helft, Miguel (2008-05-05). "A Yahoo Shareholder on What Might Have Been". New York Times. http://www10.nytimes.com/2008/05/05/technology/05m... Retrieved 2008-05-31.
53. ^ Kopytoff, Verne; Gage, Deborah (2008-05-05). "Pressure's now on Yahoo CEO". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2... Retrieved 2008-05-31.
54. ^ "Yahoo Falls After Microsoft Yanks Takeover Bid". SmartMoney. http://www.smartmoney.com/investing/stocks/yahoo-f... Retrieved 2008-05-06.
55. ^ "Yahoo Ends Talks With Microsoft, Signs Search-Ad Deal with Google". Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121329534659368693... Retrieved 2008-06-12.
56. ^ Helft, Miguel (2008-06-20). "At Yahoo, the Exodus Continues:". NY Times. http://www10.nytimes.com/2008/06/20/technology/20y... Retrieved 2008-06-20.
57. ^ Liedtke, Michael (2008-07-07). "Microsoft wants to negotiate with new Yahoo board". Associated Press. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/topic/. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
58. ^ NASDAQ (2008-11-20). "YHOO stock quote - Yahoo! Inc. stock price - NASDAQ.com". NASDAQ. http://quotes.nasdaq.com/asp/SummaryQuote.asp?symb... Retrieved 2008-11-20.
59. ^ John Waples (2008-11-30). "Microsoft in $20bn Yahoo deal:". London: Times Online. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/ind... Retrieved 2008-11-30.
60. ^ Tech.Yahoo.com
61. ^ Job cuts help Yahoo profits surge.
62. ^ Yahoo Home Page Gets A New Look.
63. ^ Liedtke, Michael (December 11, 2007). "Ask.com will purge search info in hours". Journal Gazette (Fort Wayne Newspapers). http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/articl... Retrieved 2008-08-18.
64. ^ "Yahoo Tops Google In Mail, News, Finance". webpronews.com. http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2006/05/20/yahoo... Retrieved 2008-02-17.
65. ^ "Yahoo! Mail goes to infinity and beyond". yodel.yahoo.com. http://ycorpblog.com/2007/03/27/yahoo-mail-goes-to... Retrieved 2008-02-21.
66. ^ "The Evolution of Yahoo! 360". blog.360.yahoo.com. http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-1qCkw2Ehaak.hdNZkEA... Retrieved 2008-02-22.
67. ^ "New Yahoo site to 'Shine' on women". MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23879739/. Retrieved 2010-05-24.
68. ^ "Yahoo Gets Ahead of Google in the Mobile Search Market". 2008-02-21. http://web.archive.org/web/20071224203041/http://w...
69. ^ "Novarra to transcode for Yahoo's oneSearch". rcrnews.com. http://www.rcrnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/... Retrieved 2008-02-06.
70. ^ "Yahoo to close North American auction site". msnbc.com. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18578841/. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
71. ^ "Company Overview". shareholder.com. http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/press/overview.... Retrieved 2008-02-21.
72. ^ "New Panama Ranking System For Yahoo Ads Launches Today". searchengineland.com. http://searchengineland.com/070205-090623.php. Retrieved 2008-02-21.
73. ^ "Yahoo! gives APT an upgrade". bizreport. http://www.bizreport.com/2008/09/yahoo_gives_apt_a... Retrieved 2010-02-07.
74. ^ "Yahoo! Previews Powerful New Online Advertising Management Platform". Yahoo!. http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/press/releasede... Retrieved 2008-05-31.
75. ^ "Yahoo! Launches Transformative Digital Ad Platform". Yahoo!.
76. ^ Yahoo Boss Is So Open, It Runs on Google's App Engine - washingtonpost.com.
77. ^ Yahoo! Expands Its Open Strategy With BOSS.
78. ^ Helft, Miguel (2007-02-05). "A Long-Delayed Ad System Has Yahoo Crossing Its Fingers". nytimes.com. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/05/technology/05yah... Retrieved 2008-02-21.
79. ^ Story, Louise and comScore (March 10, 2008). "They Know More Than You Think" (JPEG). The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2008/03/10/techn... in Story, Louise (March 10, 2008). "To Aim Ads, Web Is Keeping Closer Eye on You". The New York Times (The New York Times Company). http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/technology/10pri... Retrieved 2008-03-09.
80. ^ Warner, Bernhard, "Yahoo Has Tough Day in French Court, 2000/11/08.
81. ^ "Yahoo! Introduces Paid-Inclusion Program". adweek.com. http://web.archive.org/web/20070927213149/http://w... Retrieved 2008-02-22.
82. ^ "Paid Inclusion Losing Charm?". wired.com. http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2004/07/64... Retrieved 2008-02-22.
83. ^ "Yahoo's Pop-Up Connection". businessweek.com. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_29... Retrieved 2008-02-22.
84. ^ "Yahoo's Adware Counterattack". businessweek.com. http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov... Retrieved 2008-02-06.
85. ^ Milbank, Dana (2007-11-08). "Yahoo in the dock". The Washington Post. The Standard. http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_c... Retrieved 2008-02-23.
86. ^ Gunther, Marc. Tech execs get grilled over mainland China business: Yahoo, Google, Microsoft and Cisco, facing attack in Congress, say they're doing more good than harm in China." CNN. February 16, 2006.
87. ^ "China: Internet Companies Aid Censorship". http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/08/09/china13... Retrieved 2007-02-06.
88. ^ "Jailed Chinese Journalist Wins WAN Golden Pen of Freedom". wmd.org. http://www.wmd.org/democracynews/dec06.html. Retrieved 2008-02-23.
89. ^ verdict as published by the Chinese government.
90. ^ "Yahoo's Statement before the U.S. Congress". nytimes.com. http://www.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/business/Yahoo... Retrieved 2008-02-25.
91. ^ "British, Irish Journalists Urge Yahoo Boycott Over Chinese Cases". foxnews.com. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,198403,00.html... Retrieved 2008-02-25.
92. ^ "Letter Casts Doubt On Yahoo China Testimony". yro.slashdot.org. http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/07/07/30/228254.shtml. Retrieved 2008-02-25.
93. ^ "Police Document Sheds Additional Light on Shi Tao Case". duihua.org. http://www.duihua.org/2007/07/police-document-shed... Retrieved 2008-02-25.
94. ^ "Beijing State Security Bureau Notice of Evidence Collection". duihua.org. http://www.duihua.org/press/news/070725_ShiTao.pdf... Retrieved 2008-02-25.
95. ^ "Rights Group Says Yahoo May Have Lied to Congress". Voice of America. http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-07-31-voa18.cf... Retrieved 2008-02-25.
96. ^ Coonan, Clifford (2007-04-20). "Chinese couple sue Yahoo in US over torture case". London: The Independent. http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/artic... Retrieved 2010-04-09.
97. ^ Egelko, Bob (2007-04-19). "Suit by wife of Chinese activist". SF Gate. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chroni...
98. ^ a b c "Advocates Sue Yahoo In Chinese Torture Case". The Washington Post. 2007-04-20. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic...
99. ^ "Yahoo plea over China rights case". bbc.co.uk. 2007-08-28. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6966116.st... Retrieved 2008-02-25.
100. ^ "US rebukes Yahoo over China case". bbc.co.uk. 2007-11-06. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7081458.stm. Retrieved 2008-02-25.
101. ^ "Yahoo closes chat rooms over child sex concerns". news.com. http://news.com.com/Yahoo+closes+chat+rooms+over+c... Retrieved 2008-02-06.
102. ^ "To Yahoo! News readers:". news.yahoo.com. http://news.yahoo.com/page/messageboards. Retrieved 2008-02-25.
103. ^ Metz, Cade, "Byrne's naked shorting crusade outs Yahoo! security vuln", The Register, Sept. 8, 2009.
104. ^ "Yahoo! image search exposes school to porn". theregister.co.uk. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/05/25/yahoo_scho... Retrieved 2008-02-25.
105. ^ "Sharks Circle China's Alibaba.com". businessweek.com. http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jul2... Retrieved 2008-02-25.
106. ^ "Moving a Mountain - Eco-Groups Pressure Yahoo! To Divest from Global Shark Finning". thescubastop.com. http://www.thescubastop.com/news/readnews.php?t=16... Retrieved 2008-02-25.
107. ^ "archiveteam". http://archiveteam.org/index.php?title=Geocities.
108. ^ "GeoCities Closing". http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/geocities/close/.
109. ^ Saving a Historical Record of GeoCities.
110. ^ "GeoCities' time has expired, Yahoo! closing the site today". Los Angeles Times. 2009-10-26. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/10...
111. ^ CNET.com
112. ^ CNET.com
113. ^ Newstatesman.com
114. ^ Physorg.com
115. ^ SFgate.com
116. ^ "Data source". OpesC. http://www.opesc.org/fiche-societe/fiche-societe.p... Retrieved 2008-03-16.
117. ^ Yahoo.co.jp
118. ^ "Darren Petterson promises an important increase in Yahoo!, in Romania" (in Romanian). 2008-05-30. http://www.wall-street.ro/articol/Marketing-PR/427... Retrieved 2010-02-13.
119. ^ "Darren Patterson, Yahoo!: Yahoo.ro is scheduled to launch by the end of Q3" (in Romanian). Ziarul Financiar. 2008-05-15. http://www.zf.ro/business-hi-tech/darren-patterson... Retrieved 2010-02-13.
120. ^ "Fanache, the "only mohican" of Yahoo! in Romania: If there were no crisis, by now we will have had Yahoo! Mail and Messegenr in Romanian" (in Romanian). Daily Business. 2009-04-13. http://www.dailybusiness.ro/stiri-new-media/stiri-... Retrieved 2010-02-13.
121. ^ "Yahoo! Romania will launch in June 2010" (in Romanian). Smash.ro. 2010-11-02. http://www.smash.ro/punctro/yahoo-romania-se-lanse... Retrieved 2010-02-13.
122. ^ "Mediacafe: "Yahoo.ro won't revolutionise the market, and neither will it gross three times more money"". Money.ro. 2010-12-02. http://www.money.ro/new-media/mediacafe-yahoo-ro-n... Retrieved 2010-02-13.
123. ^ "Yahoo Logo Design", Logo Design History.
124. ^ Yahoo Press Room.
[edit] External links
* Yahoo website
* Yahoo Fun
* Yahoo addresses
* Yahoo calendar
* Yahoo mail
* Yahoo notepad
* Yodel anecdotal corporate blog
* Corporate milestones
* The History of Yahoo! - How It All Started …
* Earliest known Yahoo! website from 1996
* Jerry and Dave's Excellent Venture 'video about the beginnings of Yahoo
[show]
v • d • e
Yahoo! Inc.
Acquisitions · Criticism
Advertising
APT from Yahoo! · Panama · Yahoo! Publisher Network · Search Marketing
Development
Developer Network · Next · YQL
Search
BOSS · Directory · Finance · HotJobs · Kelkoo · Maps · Movies · Music (Music Radio) · News · omg! · Search · SearchMonkey · Sports
Communication
Answers · Buzz · Groups · Mail · Personals · Rivals · Upcoming · Voice
Publishing
360° Plus Vietnam · Associated Content · Babel Fish · Delicious · Fire Eagle · Flickr · Meme · MyBlogLog · Pipes · Video · Web Hosting
Software
FoxyTunes · Music Jukebox · Messenger (releases) · Toolbar · Widgets
Co-branded ISPs
AT&T · BT · Rogers · Verizon (DSL · FiOS)
Others
Games · Time Capsule
Discontinued
360° · Auctions (Wallet) · Briefcase · blo.gs · Broadcast.com · Dialpad · Desktop Search · Gallery · Go/Mobile · Kickstart · Mash · Musicmatch Jukebox · Music Unlimited · Photos · Podcasts · RocketMail · Live · GeoCities · The All-Seeing Eye · JumpCut · WebRing
Annual Revenue: ▲US$6.4 Billion (2009) · Employees: 13,900 (2009)
Stock Symbol: (NASDAQ: YHOO) · Website: Yahoo.com
[show]
v • d • e
Companies of the NASDAQ-100 index
Activision Blizzard · Adobe · Akamai · Altera · Amazon.com · Amgen · Apollo Group · Apple · Applied Materials · Autodesk · ADP · Baidu · Bed Bath & Beyond · Biogen Idec · BMC Software · Broadcom · C.H. Robinson · CA, Inc. · Celgene · Cephalon · Cerner · Check Point · Cintas · Cisco · Citrix · Cognizant · Comcast · Costco · Dell · Dentsply · DirecTV · Dish Network · eBay · Electronic Arts · Expedia · Expeditors International · Express Scripts · Fastenal · First Solar · Fiserv · Flextronics · FLIR Systems · Foster Wheeler · Garmin · Genzyme · Gilead Sciences · Google · Henry Schein · Hologic · Illumina · Infosys · Intel · Intuit · Intuitive Surgical · J. B. Hunt · Joy Global · KLA Tencor · Lam Research · Liberty Media · Life Technologies · Linear Technology · Logitech · Marvell · Mattel · Maxim Integrated Products · Microchip Technology · Microsoft · Millicom · Mylan · NetApp · News Corporation · NII · Nvidia · O'Reilly Automotive · Oracle · Paccar · Patterson Companies · Paychex · Priceline.com · Qiagen · Qualcomm · Research In Motion · Ross Stores · SanDisk · Seagate · Sears · Sigma-Aldrich · Staples · Starbucks · Stericycle · Symantec · Teva Pharmaceutical · Urban Outfitters · VeriSign · Vertex Pharmaceuticals · Virgin Media · Vodafone · Warner Chilcott · Wynn Resorts · Xilinx · Yahoo!
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahoo!"
Categories: Companies listed on NASDAQ | Companies in the NASDAQ-100 Index | Companies based in Sunnyvale, California | Companies established in 1995 | Internet properties established in 1995 | Internet companies of the United States | Internet search engines | Global internet community | Online companies | Web portals | Web service providers | Publicly traded companies | Internet history | World Wide Web | Human-computer interaction | Hypertext | New encyclopedism | Software companies of the United States | Yahoo! | American corporations | Public corporations | American public corporations
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This article is about the corporation. For other uses, see Yahoo (disambiguation).
Yahoo! Inc. Yahoo Logo.svg
Type Public (NASDAQ: YHOO)
Industry Internet, Computer software
Founded Santa Clara, California
(March 1, 1995)
Founder(s) Jerry Yang
David Filo
Headquarters 701 First Ave. Sunnyvale, California, United States
Area served Worldwide
Key people Carol Bartz (CEO)
Roy J. Bostock (Chairman)
Jerry Yang (Co-founder)
David Filo (Co-founder)
Products See list of Yahoo products.
Revenue ▼ $6.460 billion (2009)[1]
Operating income ▼ $3.589 billion (2009)[1]
Profit ▲ $597.99 million (2009)[1]
Total assets ▲ $14.936 billion (2009)[1]
Total equity ▲ $12.493 billion (2009)[1]
Employees 13,900 (Q4 2009)[2]
Subsidiaries List of acquisitions by Yahoo!
Website Yahoo.com
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) is an American public corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, (in Silicon Valley), that provides Internet services worldwide. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine (Yahoo! Search), Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, advertising, online mapping (Yahoo! Maps), video sharing (Yahoo! Video), and social media websites and services. As of January, 2010, Yahoo held the world's largest market share in online display advertising. JP Morgan put the company’s US market share for display ads at 17%, well ahead of No. 2 Microsoft at 11% and AOL at 7%.[3]
Yahoo! was founded by Jerry Yang and David Filo in January 1994 and was incorporated on March 1, 1995. On January 13, 2009, Yahoo! appointed Carol Bartz, former executive chairperson of Autodesk, as its new chief executive officer and a member of the board of directors.[4]
According to Web traffic analysis companies (including Compete.com, comScore,[5] Alexa Internet,[6] Netcraft,[7] and Nielsen ratings),[8] the domain yahoo.com attracted at least 1.575 billion visitors annually by 2008.[9] The global network of Yahoo! websites receives 3.4 billion page views per day on average as of October 2007[update].
Contents
[hide]
* 1 History and growth
o 1.1 Early history (1994–1999)
o 1.2 Dot-com bubble (2000–2001)
o 1.3 Post dot-com bubble (2002–2009)
+ 1.3.1 Acquisition attempt by Microsoft
+ 1.3.2 Change in direction under Carol Bartz
* 2 Products and services
o 2.1 Storing personal information
o 2.2 Communication
o 2.3 Content
o 2.4 Co-branded Internet services
o 2.5 Mobile
o 2.6 oneSearch
o 2.7 Commerce
o 2.8 Small business
o 2.9 Advertising
o 2.10 Yahoo! Next
o 2.11 Yahoo! BOSS
o 2.12 Yahoo! Meme
* 3 Revenue model
* 4 Criticism and controversy
o 4.1 Nazi memorabilia controversy
o 4.2 Yahoo! paid inclusion controversy
o 4.3 Adware and spyware
o 4.4 Work in the People's Republic of China
+ 4.4.1 Imprisonment of Chinese dissidents
# 4.4.1.1 Shi Tao
# 4.4.1.2 Li Zhi
# 4.4.1.3 Sued in US court for outing Chinese dissident Wang Xiaoning
o 4.5 Chatrooms and message boards
o 4.6 Image search
o 4.7 Shark finning controversy
o 4.8 Closing Down Services
+ 4.8.1 Closing down Geocities
+ 4.8.2 Closing down Yahoo! 360° beta
+ 4.8.3 Closing Down Mash Beta
+ 4.8.4 Closing Down Yahoo Photos
+ 4.8.5 Closing down Yahoo! Tech
+ 4.8.6 Other discontinued services
* 5 Yahoo subject of cyber attacks originating in China
* 6 Financial data
* 7 Yahoo! International
* 8 Logos and themes
* 9 See also
* 10 Notes and references
* 11 External links
[edit] History and growth
See also: Timeline of events for Yahoo!
[edit] Early history (1994–1999)
Left: David Filo. Right: Jerry Yang
In January 1994, Jerry Yang and David Filo were Electrical Engineering graduate students at Stanford University. In April 1994, "Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web" was renamed "Yahoo!", for which the official backronym is "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle".[10][11] Filo and Yang said they selected the name because they liked the word's general definition, which comes from Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift: "rude, unsophisticated and uncouth".[12] Its URL was akebono.stanford.edu/yahoo.[13]
The yahoo.com domain was created on January 18, 1995.[14] Yang and Filo realized their website had massive business potential, and on March 1, 1995, Yahoo! was incorporated.[15] On April 5, 1995, Michael Moritz of Sequoia Capital provided Yahoo! with two rounds of venture capital, raising approximately $3 million.[16][17] On April 12, 1996, Yahoo! had its initial public offering, raising $33.8 million, by selling 2.6 million shares at $13 each.
Like many web search engines and web directories, Yahoo! diversified into a web portal. In the late 1990s, Yahoo!, MSN, Lycos, Excite and other Web portals were growing rapidly. Web portal providers rushed to acquire companies to expand their range of services, in the hope of increasing the time a user stayed at the portal.
On March 8, 1997, Yahoo! acquired online communications company Four11. Four11's webmail service, RocketMail, became Yahoo! Mail. Yahoo! also acquired ClassicGames.com and turned it into Yahoo! Games. Yahoo! then acquired direct marketing company Yoyodyne Entertainment, Inc. on October 12. On March 8, 1998, Yahoo! launched Yahoo! Pager,[18] an instant messaging service that was renamed Yahoo! Messenger a year later. On January 28, 1999, Yahoo! acquired web hosting provider GeoCities. Another company Yahoo! acquired was eGroups, which became Yahoo! Groups after the acquisition on June 28, 2000.
Yahoo! headquarters in Sunnyvale
[edit] Dot-com bubble (2000–2001)
Yahoo! stock doubled in price in the last month of 1999.[19] On January 3, 2000, at the height of the Dot-com boom, Yahoo! stocks closed at an all-time high of $118.75 a share. Sixteen days later, shares in Yahoo! Japan became the first stocks in Japanese history to trade at over ¥100,000,000, reaching a price of ¥101.4 million ($94,780 at that time).[20]
On February 7, 2000, the Yahoo! domain was brought to a halt for a few hours as it was the victim of a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS).[21] On the next day, its shares rose about $16, or 4.5 percent as the failure was blamed on hackers rather than on an internal glitch, unlike a fault with eBay earlier that year.
During the dot-com boom, the cable news station CNBC also reported that Yahoo! and eBay were discussing a 50/50 merger.[22] Although the merger never materialized the two companies decided to form a marketing/advertising alliance six years later in 2006.[23]
On June 26, 2000, Yahoo! and Google signed an agreement which retained Google as the default worldwide-web search engine for Yahoo! following a beta trial in 1999.[24]
[edit] Post dot-com bubble (2002–2009)
Yahoo! was one of the surviving large Internet companies after the dot-com bubble burst. Nevertheless, on September 26, 2001, Yahoo! stocks closed at a five-year low of $4.06 (split-adjusted).
Yahoo! formed partnerships with telecommunications and Internet providers to create content-rich broadband services to compete with AOL. On June 3, 2002, SBC and Yahoo! launched a national co-branded dial-up Internet access service.[25] In July 2003, BT Group Openworld announced an alliance with Yahoo!.[26] On August 23, 2005, Yahoo! and Verizon Communications launched an integrated DSL service.[27]
In late 2002, Yahoo! began to bolster its search services by acquiring other search engines. In December 2002, Yahoo! acquired Inktomi Corporation. In February 2005, Yahoo! acquired Konfabulator and rebranded it Yahoo! Widgets,[28] a desktop application and in July 2003, it acquired Overture Services, Inc. and its subsidiaries AltaVista and AlltheWeb. On February 18, 2004, Yahoo! dropped Google-powered results and returned to using its own technology to provide search results.
In 2004, in response to Google's release of Gmail, Yahoo! upgraded the storage of all free Yahoo! Mail accounts from 4 MB to 1 GB, and all Yahoo! Mail Plus accounts to 2 GB. On July 9, 2004, Yahoo! acquired e-mail provider Oddpost to add an Ajax interface to Yahoo! Mail.[29] On October 13, 2005, Yahoo! and Microsoft announced that Yahoo! Messenger and MSN Messenger would become interoperable. In 2007, Yahoo! took out the storage meters, thus allowing users unlimited storage.
Yahoo! continued acquiring companies to expand its range of services, particularly Web 2.0 services. Yahoo! Launchcast became Yahoo! Music on February 9, 2005. On March 20, 2005, Yahoo! purchased photo sharing service Flickr.[30] On March 29, 2005, the company launched its blogging and social networking service Yahoo! 360°. In June 2005, Yahoo! acquired blo.gs, a service based on RSS feed aggregation. Yahoo! then bought online social event calendar Upcoming.org on October 4, 2005. Yahoo! acquired social bookmark site del.icio.us on December 9, 2005 and then playlist sharing community Webjay on January 9, 2006.
On August 27, 2007, Yahoo! released a new version of Yahoo! Mail. It adds Yahoo! Messenger integration. (which includes Windows Live Messenger due to the networks' federation) and free text messages (not necessarily free to the receiver) to mobile phones in the U.S., Canada, India and the Philippines.[31]
On January 29, 2008, Yahoo! announced that the company was laying off 1,000 employees as the company had suffered severely in its inability to effectively compete with industry search leader Google. The cuts represent 7 percent of the company's workforce of 14,300. Employees are being invited to apply for an unknown number of new positions that are expected to open as the company expands areas that promise faster growth.[32]
In February, 2008, Yahoo! acquired Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Maven Networks, a supplier of internet video players and video advertising tools, for approx. $160 million.
Yahoo! announced on November 17, 2008 that Yang would be stepping down as CEO.[33]
On December 10, 2008, Yahoo! began laying off 1,520 employees around the world as the company managed its way through the global economic downturn.[34] By carefully managing expenses, Yahoo! has remained one of the most profitable pure-Internet companies in the world[35] , and maintains billions of dollars on its balance sheet,[36] despite continued "softness" in the advertising world.
[edit] Acquisition attempt by Microsoft
Microsoft and Yahoo! pursued merger discussions in 2005, 2006, and 2007, that were all ultimately unsuccessful. At the time, analysts were skeptical about the wisdom of a business combination.[37][38]
On February 1, 2008, after its friendly takeover offer was rebuffed by Yahoo!, Microsoft made an unsolicited takeover bid to buy Yahoo! for US$44.6 billion in cash and stock.[39][40] Days later, Yahoo! considered alternatives to the merger with Microsoft, including a merger with internet giant Google[41] or a potential transaction with News Corp.[42] However, on February 11, 2008, Yahoo! decided to reject Microsoft's offer as "substantially undervaluing" Yahoo!'s brand, audience, investments, and growth prospects.[43] As of February 22, two Detroit based pension companies have sued Yahoo! and their board of directors for breaching their duty to shareholders by opposing Microsoft's takeover bid and pursuing "value destructive" third-party deals.[44][dead link] In early March, Google CEO Eric Schmidt went on record saying that he was concerned that a potential MICROSOFT-Yahoo! merger might hurt the Internet by compromising its openness.[45] The value of Microsoft's cash and stock offer declined with Microsoft's stock price, falling to $42.2 billion by April 4.[46] On April 5, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer sent a letter to Yahoo!'s board of directors stating that if within three weeks they had not accepted the deal, Microsoft would approach shareholders directly in hopes of electing a new board and moving forward with merger talks; this is known as a hostile takeover.[47] In response, Yahoo! stated on April 7 that they were not against a merger, but that they wanted a better offer. In addition, they stated that Microsoft's "aggressive" approach was worsening their relationship and the chances of a "friendly" merger.[48] Later the same day, Yahoo! stated that the original $45 billion offer was not acceptable.[48] Following this, there has been considerable discussion of having Time Warner's AOL and Yahoo! merge, instead of the originally proposed Microsoft deal.[49]
On May 3, 2008, Microsoft withdrew the offer. During a meeting between Ballmer and Yang, Microsoft had offered to raise its offer by $5 billion to $33 per share, while Yahoo! demanded $37. One of Ballmer's lieutenants suggested that Yang would implement a poison pill to make the takeover as difficult as possible, saying "They are going to burn the furniture if we go hostile. They are going to destroy the place."[50][51]
Analysts said that Yahoo!'s shares, which closed at $28.67 on May 2, were likely to drop below $25 and perhaps as low as $20 on May 5, which would put significant pressure on Yang to engineer a turnaround of the company. Some suggested that institutional investors would file lawsuits against Yahoo!'s board of directors for not acting in shareholder interest by refusing Microsoft's offer.[52][53]
On May 5, 2008, following Microsoft's withdrawal Yahoo!'s stock plunged some 15% lower to $23.02 in Monday trading and trimmed about $6 billion off of its market capitalization.[54]
After Microsoft's failed bid to acquire Yahoo!, Microsoft is rumored to be looking at acquiring LiveDoor, a leading Japanese portal and the leading blogging service in Japan, to strengthen its position against Yahoo! Japan.
On June 12, 2008, Yahoo announced that it had ended all talks with Microsoft about purchasing either part of the business (the search advertising business) or all of the company. Talks had taken place the previous weekend (June 8), during which Microsoft allegedly told Yahoo that it was no longer interested in a purchase of the entire company at the price offered earlier -- $33/share. Also on June 12, Yahoo announced a non-exclusive search advertising alliance with Google.[55] Upon this announcement, many executives and senior employees announced their plans to leave the company as it appears that they lost confidence in Yahoo's strategies. According to market analysts, these pending departures impacted Wall Street's perception of the company.[56]
On July 7, 2008, Microsoft said it would reconsider proposing another bid for Yahoo if the company's nine directors were ousted at the annual meeting scheduled to be held on August 1, 2008. Microsoft believes it would be able to better negotiate with a new board.[57]
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn, calling the current board irrational in its approach to talks with Microsoft, launched a proxy fight to replace Yahoo's board. On July 21, 2008 Yahoo settled with Carl Icahn, agreeing to appoint him and two allies to an expanded board.
On November 20, 2008, almost 10 months after Microsoft's initial offer of $33 per share, Yahoo's stock (YHOO) dropped to a 52-week low, trading at only $8.94 per share.[58]
On November 30, 2008, Microsoft offered to buy Yahoo's Search business for $20 billion.[59]
On July 29, 2009, it was announced with a 10 year deal that Microsoft will have full access to Yahoo search engine to be used in Microsoft future projects for its search engine Bing.[60] Under the deal, Microsoft was not required to pay any cash up front to Yahoo. The day after the deal was announced, Yahoo's share price declined more than 10% to $15.14, about 60% lower than Microsoft's takeover bid a year earlier.
[edit] Change in direction under Carol Bartz
Yahoo! has tried to change its direction since chief executive Carol Bartz replaced co-founder Jerry Yang in January 2009.[61]
In July, Microsoft and Yahoo! agreed to a deal that will see Yahoo!'s websites use both Microsoft's search technology and search advertising. Yahoo! in turn will become the sales team for banner advertising for both companies. While Microsoft will provide algorithmic search results, Yahoo! will control the presentation and personalization of results for searches on its pages. This deal is not expected to be finalised before spring 2010 and is awaiting regulatory approval.
On July 21, 2009, Yahoo! launched a new version of its front page, called Metro. The new page allows users to customize it through the prominent "My Favorites" panel on the left side and integrate third-party web services and launch them within one page. Such applications include pages of Netflix, E-trade, Facebook, and other sites.[62]
[edit] Products and services
Main article: List of Yahoo-owned sites and services
Yahoo! provides a wide array of internet services that cater to most online activities. It operates the web portal http://www.yahoo.com which provides content including the latest news, entertainment, and sports information, and gives users quick access to other Yahoo! services like Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Maps, Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! Groups and Yahoo! Messenger. The majority of the product offerings are available globally in more than 20 languages.
[edit] Storing personal information
As of December 11, 2007, Google and Microsoft's Bing "store personal information for 18 months" and Yahoo! and AOL (Time Warner) "retain search requests for 13 months".[63]
[edit] Communication
Yahoo! provides internet communication services such as Yahoo! Messenger and Yahoo! Mail, the largest e-mail service in the world, with almost half the market share.[64] In March 2007, Yahoo! announced that their e-mail service would offer unlimited storage beginning May 2007.[65]
Yahoo! also offers social networking services and user-generated content in products such as My Web, Yahoo! Personals, Yahoo! 360°, Delicious, Flickr, and Yahoo! Buzz.
Yahoo! Photos was shut down on September 20, 2007 in favor of Flickr. On October 16, 2007, Yahoo! announced that they will no longer provide support or perform bug fixes on Yahoo! 360° as they intend to abandon it in early 2008 in favor of a "universal profile" that will be similar to their Mash experimental system.[66]
[edit] Content
Yahoo! partners with hundreds of premier content providers in products such as Yahoo! Sports, Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! Music, Yahoo! Movies, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Answers and Yahoo! Games to provide media contents and news. Yahoo! also provides a personalization service, My Yahoo!, which enables users to collect their favorite Yahoo! features, content feeds, and information into a single page.
On March 31, 2008 Yahoo! launched Shine, another Yahoo! property dedicated to women between the ages of 25 and 54. Yahoo! called this demographic underserved by current Yahoo! properties.[67]
[edit] Co-branded Internet services
Yahoo! has developed partnerships with different broadband providers such as AT&T (via BellSouth & SBC), Verizon Communications, Rogers Communications and British Telecom, offering a range of free and premium Yahoo! content and services to subscribers.
[edit] Mobile
Yahoo! Mobile includes services for on-the-go messaging, such as email, instant messaging, and mobile blogging; information, such as search and alerts; and fun and games, including ring tones, mobile games, and Yahoo! Photos for camera phones. These require software to be installed on the user's device.
[edit] oneSearch
Yahoo! introduced its Internet search system, called oneSearch, developed for mobile phones on March 20, 2007. The company's officials stated that in distinction from ordinary Web searches, Yahoo!'s new service presents a list of actual information, which may include: news headlines, images from Yahoo!'s Flickr photos site, business listings, local weather and links to other sites. Instead of showing only, for example, popular movies or some critical reviews, oneSearch lists local theaters that at the moment are playing a certain movie, user ratings and news headlines regarding the movie. A zip code or city name is required for Yahoo! oneSearch to start delivering local search results.
The results of a Web search are listed on a single page and are prioritized into categories. The list of results is based on calculations that Yahoo! computers make on certain information the user is seeking.[68]
Yahoo! has announced they also plan to adopt Novarra's mobile content transcoding service for the oneSearch platform.[69]
[edit] Commerce
Yahoo! offers commerce services such as Yahoo! Shopping, Yahoo! Autos, Yahoo! Real Estate and Yahoo! Travel, which enables users to gather relevant information and make commercial transactions and purchases online. In addition, Yahoo! offers an e-commerce platform called Yahoo! Merchant Solutions (also known as Yahoo! Store) and hosts more Top 500 internet retailers than any other hosted e-commerce solution. Yahoo! Auctions were discontinued in 2007 except for Asia.[70]
[edit] Small business
Yahoo! provides services such as Yahoo! Domains, Yahoo! Web Hosting, Yahoo! Merchant Solutions, Yahoo! Business Email, and Yahoo! Store to small business owners and professionals allowing them to build their own online stores using Yahoo!'s tools.
Yahoo! also offers HotJobs to help recruiters find the talent they seek.
[edit] Advertising
Yahoo! Search Marketing provides services such as Sponsored Search, Local Advertising, and Product/Travel/Directory Submit that let different businesses advertise their products and services on the Yahoo! network. Yahoo! Publisher Network is an advertising tool for online publishers to place advertisements relevant to their content to monetize their websites.[71]
Yahoo! launched its new Internet advertisement sales system on February 5, 2007 called Panama. It allows advertisers to bid for search terms based on their popularity to display their ads on search results pages. The system takes bids, ad quality, click-through rates and other factors into consideration in determining how ads are ranked on search results pages. Through Panama, Yahoo! aims to provide more relevant search results to users, a better overall experience, as well as increase monetization—to earn more from the ads it shows.[72]
On April 7, 2008, Yahoo! announced APT from Yahoo!, which was originally called AMP! from Yahoo!,[73] an online advertising management platform.[74] The platform seeks to simplify advertising sales by unifying buyer and seller markets. The service was launched in September 2008.[75]
[edit] Yahoo! Next
Yahoo! Next is an incubation ground for future Yahoo! technologies currently in their beta testing phase. It contains forums for Yahoo! users to give feedback to assist in the development of these future Yahoo! technologies. it was created by Jerry Page and David Shin.
[edit] Yahoo! BOSS
Yahoo! Search BOSS is a new service that allows developers to build search applications based on Yahoo!'s search technology.[76] Early Partners in the program include Hakia, Me.dium, Delver, Daylife and Yebol.[77]
[edit] Yahoo! Meme
Yahoo! Meme is a beta social service, similar to the popular social networking sites Twitter and Jaiku.
[edit] Revenue model
About 88% of total revenues for the fiscal year 2006 came from marketing services. The largest segment of it comes from search advertising, where advertisers bid for search terms to display their ads on the search results, on average Yahoo! makes 2.5 cents to 3 cents from each search. With the new search advertising system "Panama" Yahoo! aims to increase revenue generated from search.[78]
Other forms of advertising which bring in revenue for Yahoo! include display and contextual advertising.
Working with comScore, The New York Times found that Yahoo! is able to collect far more data about Web users than its competitors from its Web sites and its advertising network. By one measure, on average Yahoo! had the potential in December 2007 to build a profile of 2,500 records per month about each of its visitors.[79]
[edit] Criticism and controversy
[edit] Nazi memorabilia controversy
For more details on this topic, see LICRA v. Yahoo!.
In 2000, Yahoo! was taken to court in France by parties seeking to prevent French citizens from purchasing memorabilia relating to the Nazi Party. Yahoo! France had already instituted policies preventing the sale of Nazi memorabilia on its site, and prohibiting Nazi-based discussions on its message boards, but the parties sought to have Yahoo! introduce censorship technology to block French citizens from accessing similar material on Yahoo! websites in countries where local laws permitted Nazi related auctions/discussions.[80]
[edit] Yahoo! paid inclusion controversy
In March 2004, Yahoo! launched a paid inclusion program whereby commercial websites are guaranteed listings on the Yahoo! search engine after payment.[81] This scheme is lucrative, but has proved unpopular both with website marketers (who are reluctant to pay), and the public (who are unhappy about the paid-for listings being indistinguishable from other search results).[82] As of October 2006, Paid Inclusion doesn't guarantee any commercial listing, it only helps the paid inclusion customers, by crawling their site more often and by providing some statistics on the searches that led to the page and some additional smart links (provided by customers as feeds) below the actual url.
[edit] Adware and spyware
Yahoo! has also been criticized for providing ads via the Yahoo ad network to companies who display them through spyware and adware which display on-screen pop-ups, generated from adware that a user may have installed on their computer without realizing it, sometimes by accepting online offers to download software to fix computer clocks or improve computer security, add browser enhancements, etc. As an example, users who have allowed their machine to become infected with spyware will see advertising pop-ups generated from advertising distributor Walnut Ventures, who had a direct partnership with Direct Revenue.[83][84]
[edit] Work in the People's Republic of China
“ While technologically and financially you [Yahoo] are giants, morally you are pygmies[85] ”
—Tom Lantos, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee (2007)
Yahoo!, along with Google China, Microsoft, Cisco Systems, AOL, Skype, Nortel and others, has cooperated with the Chinese government in implementing a system of internet censorship in mainland China.
Unlike Google or Microsoft, which keep confidential records of its users outside mainland China, Yahoo! stated that the company will not protect the privacy and confidentiality of its Chinese customers from the authorities.[86]
Human rights advocates such as Human Rights Watch and media groups such as Reporters Without Borders state that it is "ironic that companies whose existence depends on freedom of information and expression have taken on the role of censor."[87]
[edit] Imprisonment of Chinese dissidents
[edit] Shi Tao
Main article: Shi Tao
In September 2005, Reporters Without Borders reported the following story. In April 2005, Shi Tao, a journalist working for a Chinese newspaper, was sentenced to 10 years in prison by the Changsha Intermediate People's Court of Hunan Province, China (First trial case no. 29), for "providing state secrets to foreign entities". The "secrets" were a brief list of censorship orders he sent from a Yahoo! Mail account to the Asia Democracy Forum before the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Incident.[88]
The verdict[89] as published by the Chinese government stated the following. Shi Tao had sent the email through an anonymous Yahoo! account. Yahoo! Holdings (the Hong Kong subsidiary of Yahoo) told the Chinese government that the IP address used to send the email was registered by the Hunan newspaper that Shi Tao worked for. Police went straight to his offices and picked him up.
In February 2006, Yahoo! General Counsel submitted a statement to the U.S. Congress in which Yahoo! denied knowing the true nature of the case against Shi Tao.[90] In April 2006, Yahoo! Holdings (Hong Kong) was investigated by Hong Kong's Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data.
On 2 June 2006, the union representing journalists in the UK and Ireland (National Union of Journalists) called on its 40,000 members to boycott all Yahoo! Inc. products and services to protest the Internet company's reported actions in China.[91]
In July 2007, evidence surfaced detailing the warrant which the Chinese authorities sent to Yahoo! officials, highlighting "State Secrets" as the charge against Shi Tao. The warrant requests "Email account registration information for [email protected], all login times, corresponding IP addresses, and relevant email content from February 22, 2004 to present."[92][93][94] Analyst reports and human rights organizations have said that this evidence directly contradicts Yahoo!'s testimony before the U.S. Congress in February 2006.[95]
Yahoo! contends it must respect the laws of governments in jurisdictions where it is operating.
[edit] Li Zhi
Main article: Li Zhi (dissident)
Criticism of Yahoo! intensified in February 2006 when Reporters Without Borders released Chinese court documents stating that Yahoo! aided Chinese authorities in the case of dissident Li Zhi. In December 2003 Li Zhi was sentenced to 8 years imprisonment for "inciting subversion".
[edit] Sued in US court for outing Chinese dissident Wang Xiaoning
Main article: Wang Xiaoning
Wang Xiaoning is a Chinese dissident from Shenyang who was arrested by authorities of the People's Republic of China for publishing controversial material online.
In 2000 and 2001, Wang, who was an engineer by profession, posted electronic journals in a Yahoo! group calling for democratic reform and an end to single-party rule. He was arrested in September 2002 after Yahoo! assisted Chinese authorities by providing information. In September 2003, Wang was convicted of charges of "incitement to subvert state power" and sentenced to ten years in prison.[96]
On April 18, 2007, Xiaoning's wife Yu Ling sued Yahoo! under human rights laws in federal court in San Francisco, California, United States.[97] Wang Xiaoning is named as a plaintiff in the Yahoo! suit, which was filed with help from the World Organization for Human Rights USA. "Yahoo! is guilty of 'an act of corporate irresponsibility,'" said Morton Sklar, executive director of the group. "Yahoo! had reason to know that if they provided China with identification information that those individuals would be arrested."[98]
Yahoo!'s decision to assist China's authoritarian government came as part of a policy of reconciling its services with the Chinese government's policies. This came after China blocked Yahoo! services for a time. As reported in The Washington Post and many media sources:
The suit says that in 2001, Wang was using a Yahoo! e-mail account to post anonymous writings to an Internet mailing list. The suit alleges that Yahoo!, under pressure from the Chinese government, blocked that account. Wang set up a new account via Yahoo! and began sending material again; the suit alleges that Yahoo! gave the government information that allowed it to identify and arrest Wang in September 2002. The suit says prosecutors in the Chinese courts cited Yahoo!'s cooperation.[98]
Human rights organizations groups are basing their case on a 217-year-old U.S. law to punish corporations for human rights violations abroad, an effort the Bush administration has opposed:
In recent years, activists working with overseas plaintiffs have sued roughly two dozen businesses under the Alien Tort Statute, which the activists say grants jurisdiction to American courts over acts abroad that violate international norms. Written by the Founding Fathers in 1789 for a different purpose, the law was rarely invoked until the 1980s.[98]
On August 28, 2007, the World Organization for Human Rights sued Yahoo! for allegedly passing information (email and IP address) with the Chinese government that caused the arrests of writers and dissidents. The lawsuit was filed in San Francisco for journalists, Shi Tao, and Wang Xiaoning. Yahoo! stated that it supported privacy and free expression for it worked with other technology companies to solve human rights concerns.[99]
On November 6, 2007, the US congressional panel criticized Yahoo! for not giving full details to the House Foreign Affairs Committee the previous year, stating it had been "at best inexcusably negligent" and at worst "deceptive".[100]
[edit] Chatrooms and message boards
As a result of media scrutiny relating to Internet child predators and a lack of significant ad revenues, Yahoo!'s "user created" chatrooms were closed down in June 2005.[101] Yahoo! News' message board section was closed December 19, 2006, due to the trolling phenomenon.[102]
In 2009, it was discovered that Yahoo!'s message boards were prone to a vulnerability that allowed board participants to execute JavaScript on reader's computers as they searched the boards. Using this cross-site scripting bug, one could also grab a user's Yahoo! cookie, which could then be used to impersonate them online, even without their Yahoo! password. Yahoo! fixed the vulnerability in September 2009.[103]
[edit] Image search
On May 25, 2006, Yahoo!'s image search was criticized for bringing up sexually explicit images even when SafeSearch was on. This was discovered by a teacher who was intending to use the service with a class to search for "www". Yahoo!'s response to this was, "Yahoo! is aware of this issue and is working to resolve it as quickly as possible".[104]
[edit] Shark finning controversy
Yahoo! is a 40% owner of Alibaba, which facilitates the sale of shark-derived products.[105] After investing in Alibaba, Yahoo! executives were asked about this issue, and responded: "We know the sale of shark products is both legal in Asia and a centuries-old tradition. This issue is largely a cultural-practices one."[106] As a minority-owner of Alibaba, Yahoo! is not able to directly control that company's actions in China.
[edit] Closing Down Services
[edit] Closing down Geocities
Geocities was a popular web hosting service founded in 1994. At one point it was the 3rd most-browsed site on the World Wide Web.[107] Yahoo! purchased Geocities in 1999. Ten years later Yahoo! closed Geocities,[108] deleting millions of web pages in the process. A great deal of information was certainly lost but many of those sites & pages have been mirrored at the Internet Archive,[109] "OOcities.com", and more.[110]
[edit] Closing down Yahoo! 360° beta
Yahoo! 360° was a popular blogging/social networking beta service launched in March 2005 by Yahoo!. On July 13, 2009 Yahoo closed it down.[111]
[edit] Closing Down Mash Beta
Yahoo! Mash beta was another social service closed after one year of operation. It never left Beta.[112]
[edit] Closing Down Yahoo Photos
Yahoo! Photos was shut down on September 20, 2007 in favor of integration with Flickr
[edit] Closing down Yahoo! Tech
Yahoo! Tech was a web site that provides product information and setup advice to users. Yahoo! launched the web site in May 2006. On February 11, 2010 Yahoo announced that it would close down Yahoo! Tech on 11 March. The site thereafter will redirect users to Yahoo!'s technology news section.[113]
[edit] Other discontinued services
Other discontinued services include Farechase, My Web, Audio Search, Pets, Live, Kickstart, Briefcase, and Yahoo! for Teachers.[114] For Complete list of closed services see: List of other Yahoo! closed and defunct services
[edit] Yahoo subject of cyber attacks originating in China
Adobe and Yahoo appear to have been among the targets of cyber attacks originating in China that prompted Google Inc. to threaten to leave the Asian nation in a surprise announcement on January 12, 2010.[115]
[edit] Financial data
Financial data, US$ million[116] Year 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Sales 1 625 3 574 5 258 6 426 6 969
EBITDA 453 1 000 1 505 1 066
Net Results 238 840 1 896 751 660
Staff 5 500 7 600 9 800 11 400
[edit] Yahoo! International
Yahoo! is known across the world with its multi-lingual interface. The site is available in over 20 languages, including English. The official directory for all of the Yahoo! International sites is world.yahoo.com.
Each of the international sites are wholly-owned by Yahoo!, with the exception of Yahoo! Japan, in which it holds a 34.79% minority stake[117] and Yahoo!7 in Australia which is a 50-50 agreement between Yahoo! and The Seven Network. Historically, Yahoo! entered into joint venture agreements with Softbank for the major European sites (UK, France, Germany) and well as Korea and Japan. In November 2005, Yahoo! purchased the minority interests that Softbank owned in Europe and Korea.
Yahoo! holds a 40% stake in Alibaba, which manages a web portal in China using the Yahoo! brand name. Yahoo! in the USA does not have direct control over the operations of Alibaba, which operates as a completely independent company.
In 2008, Darren Petterson, business development director for Yahoo! Europe confirmed that Yahoo! was going to launch a Romanian version of their website by the end of the year,[118][119] however, due to the financial crisis at that time, those plans were frozen.[120] In February 2010, new reports appeared in the Romanian media claiming that the portal will finally launch by June the same year, as some services like Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Mobile are already translated into Romanian.[121][122]
[edit] Logos and themes
The first logo was used when the company was founded in 1995. It was red and had three icons on each side.[123]
The logo used on the main page yahoo.com used to be red with a black outline and shadow, but in May 2009, along with a new theme redesign, the logo was changed to purple with no outline or shadow.
Sometimes, the logo is abbreviated with Y!.[124]
Themes and page designs are different on some international Yahoo! home pages, such as Yahoo! Australia.
[edit] See also
San Francisco Bay Area portal
Companies portal
Internet portal
* Criticism of Yahoo!
* List of acquisitions by Yahoo!
* List of search engines
* List of web analytics software
* Yahoo! Guesthouse
* Yahoo! Kids A kids based website
* YMSG - Yahoo! Messenger Protocol
[edit] Notes and references
1. ^ a b c d e YHOO Investor Relations (2009-09-01). "Annual Report 2009, Financial Highlights". Yahoo.com. Yahoo. http://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ:YHOO&fs... Retrieved 2009-10-07.
2. ^ "Yahoo! Investor Relations: Frequently Asked Questions". Yahoo! Investor Relations'. http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/faq.cfm. Retrieved 2010-04-03.
3. ^ Yahoo Pitch to Advertisers: We Sell Ginormous Ads.
4. ^ Rob Hof (2009). "Confirmed: Carol Bartz Named Yahoo CEO: Can She Turn It Around?". Business Week. http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/ar... Retrieved 2009-01-14.
5. ^ "Fox Interactive Media Ranks #1 in Page Views; Yahoo! Sites Attract the Most Unique Visitors". comScore. http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=11... Retrieved 2008-02-12.
6. ^ "Traffic History Graph for yahoo.com". Alexa Internet. http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/... Retrieved 2008-02-06.
7. ^ "Current Web Traffic stats for Yahoo". Netcraft. http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http:/... Retrieved 2008-08-16.
8. ^ Suzy Bausch; Leilani Han (2006). "Successful Sites Drive High Visitor Retention Rates". Nielsen ratings. http://www.nielsen-netratings.com/pr/pr_060511.pdf... Retrieved 2008-02-12.
9. ^ "Snapshot of yahoo.com". Compete.com. http://siteanalytics.compete.com/yahoo.com/?metric... Retrieved 2008-11-08.
10. ^ David G. Thomson (2006). Blueprint to a Billion. Wiley-Interscience. pp. 155. ISBN 9780471779186.
11. ^ Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web becomes "Yahoo!"
12. ^ Definition of "Yahoo!"
13. ^ "The History of Yahoo! - How It All Started...". Yahoo. http://docs.yahoo.com/info/misc/history.html. Retrieved 2008-02-22.
14. ^ "WHOIS information for: yahoo.com:". whois.net. http://whois.net/whois_new.cgi?d=yahoo&tld=com... Retrieved 2008-11-08.
15. ^ David Rapp (2006). "Inventing Yahoo!". American Heritage (magazine). http://www.americanheritage.com/events/articles/we... Retrieved 2008-02-22.
16. ^ Eric Schmidt (2007-05-03). "The Time 100 - Michael Moritz". Time (magazine). http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/time100/art... Retrieved 2008-11-08.
17. ^ "Yahoo Company Timeline". Archived from the original on 2008-02-13. http://web.archive.org/web/20080213120416/http://y... Retrieved 2008-08-18.
18. ^ "Stay In Touch With Yahoo! Pager". Yahoo. http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/press/ReleaseDe... Retrieved 2008-12-08.
19. ^ "YHOO: Historical Prices for Yahoo Inc - Yahoo! Finance". Yahoo! Finance. http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=YHOO&a=10&... Retrieved 2008-11-02.
20. ^ William Auckerman (2000). "Yahoo Japan Stock Breaks 100 Million Yen Barrier". Jupitermedia. http://www.internetnews.com/ent-news/print.php/289... Retrieved 2008-02-22.
21. ^ Seymour Bosworth; M. E. Kabay (2002). Computer Security Handbook. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 63. ISBN 978-0471269755.
22. ^ Saul Hansell; Laura M. Holson (2000-03-16). "The Markets: Market Place; Is the Online Auction King Ebay Going Once? Twice? Not Likely". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0... Retrieved 2009-01-05.
23. ^ "Yahoo, eBay form Web advertising alliance". Associated Press. 2006. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12970936/. Retrieved 2008-02-24.
24. ^ "GoogleAlert #2: Yahoo! Selects Google as its Default Search Engine Provider". google.com. http://www.google.com/googlefriends/alert2_2000.ht... Retrieved 2008-02-25.
25. ^ "Internet Leaders SBC and Yahoo! Launch National Co-Branded Dial Service". att.com. http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdv... Retrieved 2008-02-25.
26. ^ "Internet alliance BT and Yahoo!". telecom.paper.nl. http://www.telecom.paper.nl/news/article.aspx?id=3... Retrieved 2008-02-25. [dead link]
27. ^ "Verizon and Yahoo! Launch Integrated DSL Service Combining Broadband Speed with Premium Content". newscenter.verizon.com. http://newscenter.verizon.com/press-releases/veriz... Retrieved 2008-02-06.
28. ^ "Konfabulator 2.1: Ajax additions". ajaxian.com. http://ajaxian.com/archives/konfabulator-21-ajax-a... Retrieved 2008-02-25.
29. ^ "Yahoo acquires Oddpost to bolster e-mail". news.com. http://www.news.com/2100-1038_3-5266019.html. Retrieved 2008-02-25.
30. ^ "Yahoo actually does acquire Flickr". flickr.com. http://blog.flickr.net/en/2005/03/20/yahoo-actuall... Retrieved 2008-02-25.
31. ^ "SiliconRepublic: Yahoo releases new email service". siliconrepublic.com. http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyi... Retrieved 2008-02-25.
32. ^ Kopytoff, Verne (2008-01-30). "Yahoo to lay off 1,000". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2... Retrieved 2008-07-24.
33. ^ AP (2008-11-18). "Yahoo's Yang decides he's no longer the right CEO". Associated Press. http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20081118/ap_on_hi_te... Retrieved 2008-11-18. [dead link]
34. ^ Yahoo pink slips issued, recruiters circling above | Digital Media - CNET News.
35. ^ Yahoo! Annual Income Statement.
36. ^ Yahoo! Annual Balance Sheet.
37. ^ Mary Crane (May 3, 2006). "Microsoft, Yahoo In Possible Partnership Talks". Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/markets/bonds/2006/05/03/yah... Retrieved 2008-02-01.
38. ^ "Microsoft and Yahoo end on-again off-again talks to combine forces". Associated Press. May 4, 2007. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/04/business... Retrieved 2008-02-01.
39. ^ "Microsoft wants to purchase Yahoo". bbc.co.uk. 2008-02-01. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7222114.stm. Retrieved 2008-02-25.
40. ^ "Microsoft Offers to Buy Yahoo for $44.6 Billion". Bloomberg. February 1, 2008. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&am... Retrieved 2008-02-01.
41. ^ Jason, Mick (2008-02-06). "Microsoft May Borrow For Yahoo Deal; Yahoo Opts for Google Alliance". DailyTech. http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=10586... Retrieved 2008-02-06.
42. ^ Kafka, Peter (2008-02-12). "Yahoo-News Corp Still Talking, Deal Still Possible". AlleyInsider. http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/2/yahoo__news_cor... Retrieved 2008-03-18.
43. ^ "Yahoo! Board of Directors Says Microsoft's Proposal Substantially Undervalues Yahoo!". Business Wire. February 1, 2008. http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/press/releasede... Retrieved 2008-02-11.
44. ^ "Yahoo sued for spurning Microsoft" (in en). yahoo.com. http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080222/yahoo_shareholder_l... Retrieved 2008-02-23.
45. ^ "Microsoft's moves 'threaten net'" (in en). BBC News. 2008-03-17. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7300337.stm. Retrieved 2008-03-18.
46. ^ "Microsoft CEO sets deadline to Yahoo for deal". Reuters. 2008-04-05. http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssTechMediaTeleco... Retrieved 2008-04-10.
47. ^ "Microsoft sets deadline for Yahoo bid". MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23958838/. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
48. ^ a b "Microsoft-Yahoo fight reaches the turning point". MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23992701/. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
49. ^ "Yahoo brings two titans to the table". theaustralian.news.com.au. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197... Retrieved 2008-04-10.
50. ^ "Microsoft Withdraws Proposal to Acquire Yahoo!". Microsoft. http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/may0... Retrieved 2008-05-03.
51. ^ Lohr, Steve (2008-05-05). "Microsoft's Failed Yahoo Bid Risks Online Growth". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/05/technology/05sof... Retrieved 2008-05-06.
52. ^ Helft, Miguel (2008-05-05). "A Yahoo Shareholder on What Might Have Been". New York Times. http://www10.nytimes.com/2008/05/05/technology/05m... Retrieved 2008-05-31.
53. ^ Kopytoff, Verne; Gage, Deborah (2008-05-05). "Pressure's now on Yahoo CEO". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2... Retrieved 2008-05-31.
54. ^ "Yahoo Falls After Microsoft Yanks Takeover Bid". SmartMoney. http://www.smartmoney.com/investing/stocks/yahoo-f... Retrieved 2008-05-06.
55. ^ "Yahoo Ends Talks With Microsoft, Signs Search-Ad Deal with Google". Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121329534659368693... Retrieved 2008-06-12.
56. ^ Helft, Miguel (2008-06-20). "At Yahoo, the Exodus Continues:". NY Times. http://www10.nytimes.com/2008/06/20/technology/20y... Retrieved 2008-06-20.
57. ^ Liedtke, Michael (2008-07-07). "Microsoft wants to negotiate with new Yahoo board". Associated Press. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/topic/. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
58. ^ NASDAQ (2008-11-20). "YHOO stock quote - Yahoo! Inc. stock price - NASDAQ.com". NASDAQ. http://quotes.nasdaq.com/asp/SummaryQuote.asp?symb... Retrieved 2008-11-20.
59. ^ John Waples (2008-11-30). "Microsoft in $20bn Yahoo deal:". London: Times Online. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/ind... Retrieved 2008-11-30.
60. ^ Tech.Yahoo.com
61. ^ Job cuts help Yahoo profits surge.
62. ^ Yahoo Home Page Gets A New Look.
63. ^ Liedtke, Michael (December 11, 2007). "Ask.com will purge search info in hours". Journal Gazette (Fort Wayne Newspapers). http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/articl... Retrieved 2008-08-18.
64. ^ "Yahoo Tops Google In Mail, News, Finance". webpronews.com. http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2006/05/20/yahoo... Retrieved 2008-02-17.
65. ^ "Yahoo! Mail goes to infinity and beyond". yodel.yahoo.com. http://ycorpblog.com/2007/03/27/yahoo-mail-goes-to... Retrieved 2008-02-21.
66. ^ "The Evolution of Yahoo! 360". blog.360.yahoo.com. http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-1qCkw2Ehaak.hdNZkEA... Retrieved 2008-02-22.
67. ^ "New Yahoo site to 'Shine' on women". MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23879739/. Retrieved 2010-05-24.
68. ^ "Yahoo Gets Ahead of Google in the Mobile Search Market". 2008-02-21. http://web.archive.org/web/20071224203041/http://w...
69. ^ "Novarra to transcode for Yahoo's oneSearch". rcrnews.com. http://www.rcrnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/... Retrieved 2008-02-06.
70. ^ "Yahoo to close North American auction site". msnbc.com. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18578841/. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
71. ^ "Company Overview". shareholder.com. http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/press/overview.... Retrieved 2008-02-21.
72. ^ "New Panama Ranking System For Yahoo Ads Launches Today". searchengineland.com. http://searchengineland.com/070205-090623.php. Retrieved 2008-02-21.
73. ^ "Yahoo! gives APT an upgrade". bizreport. http://www.bizreport.com/2008/09/yahoo_gives_apt_a... Retrieved 2010-02-07.
74. ^ "Yahoo! Previews Powerful New Online Advertising Management Platform". Yahoo!. http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/press/releasede... Retrieved 2008-05-31.
75. ^ "Yahoo! Launches Transformative Digital Ad Platform". Yahoo!.
76. ^ Yahoo Boss Is So Open, It Runs on Google's App Engine - washingtonpost.com.
77. ^ Yahoo! Expands Its Open Strategy With BOSS.
78. ^ Helft, Miguel (2007-02-05). "A Long-Delayed Ad System Has Yahoo Crossing Its Fingers". nytimes.com. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/05/technology/05yah... Retrieved 2008-02-21.
79. ^ Story, Louise and comScore (March 10, 2008). "They Know More Than You Think" (JPEG). The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2008/03/10/techn... in Story, Louise (March 10, 2008). "To Aim Ads, Web Is Keeping Closer Eye on You". The New York Times (The New York Times Company). http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/technology/10pri... Retrieved 2008-03-09.
80. ^ Warner, Bernhard, "Yahoo Has Tough Day in French Court, 2000/11/08.
81. ^ "Yahoo! Introduces Paid-Inclusion Program". adweek.com. http://web.archive.org/web/20070927213149/http://w... Retrieved 2008-02-22.
82. ^ "Paid Inclusion Losing Charm?". wired.com. http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2004/07/64... Retrieved 2008-02-22.
83. ^ "Yahoo's Pop-Up Connection". businessweek.com. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_29... Retrieved 2008-02-22.
84. ^ "Yahoo's Adware Counterattack". businessweek.com. http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov... Retrieved 2008-02-06.
85. ^ Milbank, Dana (2007-11-08). "Yahoo in the dock". The Washington Post. The Standard. http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_c... Retrieved 2008-02-23.
86. ^ Gunther, Marc. Tech execs get grilled over mainland China business: Yahoo, Google, Microsoft and Cisco, facing attack in Congress, say they're doing more good than harm in China." CNN. February 16, 2006.
87. ^ "China: Internet Companies Aid Censorship". http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/08/09/china13... Retrieved 2007-02-06.
88. ^ "Jailed Chinese Journalist Wins WAN Golden Pen of Freedom". wmd.org. http://www.wmd.org/democracynews/dec06.html. Retrieved 2008-02-23.
89. ^ verdict as published by the Chinese government.
90. ^ "Yahoo's Statement before the U.S. Congress". nytimes.com. http://www.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/business/Yahoo... Retrieved 2008-02-25.
91. ^ "British, Irish Journalists Urge Yahoo Boycott Over Chinese Cases". foxnews.com. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,198403,00.html... Retrieved 2008-02-25.
92. ^ "Letter Casts Doubt On Yahoo China Testimony". yro.slashdot.org. http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/07/07/30/228254.shtml. Retrieved 2008-02-25.
93. ^ "Police Document Sheds Additional Light on Shi Tao Case". duihua.org. http://www.duihua.org/2007/07/police-document-shed... Retrieved 2008-02-25.
94. ^ "Beijing State Security Bureau Notice of Evidence Collection". duihua.org. http://www.duihua.org/press/news/070725_ShiTao.pdf... Retrieved 2008-02-25.
95. ^ "Rights Group Says Yahoo May Have Lied to Congress". Voice of America. http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-07-31-voa18.cf... Retrieved 2008-02-25.
96. ^ Coonan, Clifford (2007-04-20). "Chinese couple sue Yahoo in US over torture case". London: The Independent. http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/artic... Retrieved 2010-04-09.
97. ^ Egelko, Bob (2007-04-19). "Suit by wife of Chinese activist". SF Gate. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chroni...
98. ^ a b c "Advocates Sue Yahoo In Chinese Torture Case". The Washington Post. 2007-04-20. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic...
99. ^ "Yahoo plea over China rights case". bbc.co.uk. 2007-08-28. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6966116.st... Retrieved 2008-02-25.
100. ^ "US rebukes Yahoo over China case". bbc.co.uk. 2007-11-06. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7081458.stm. Retrieved 2008-02-25.
101. ^ "Yahoo closes chat rooms over child sex concerns". news.com. http://news.com.com/Yahoo+closes+chat+rooms+over+c... Retrieved 2008-02-06.
102. ^ "To Yahoo! News readers:". news.yahoo.com. http://news.yahoo.com/page/messageboards. Retrieved 2008-02-25.
103. ^ Metz, Cade, "Byrne's naked shorting crusade outs Yahoo! security vuln", The Register, Sept. 8, 2009.
104. ^ "Yahoo! image search exposes school to porn". theregister.co.uk. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/05/25/yahoo_scho... Retrieved 2008-02-25.
105. ^ "Sharks Circle China's Alibaba.com". businessweek.com. http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jul2... Retrieved 2008-02-25.
106. ^ "Moving a Mountain - Eco-Groups Pressure Yahoo! To Divest from Global Shark Finning". thescubastop.com. http://www.thescubastop.com/news/readnews.php?t=16... Retrieved 2008-02-25.
107. ^ "archiveteam". http://archiveteam.org/index.php?title=Geocities.
108. ^ "GeoCities Closing". http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/geocities/close/.
109. ^ Saving a Historical Record of GeoCities.
110. ^ "GeoCities' time has expired, Yahoo! closing the site today". Los Angeles Times. 2009-10-26. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/10...
111. ^ CNET.com
112. ^ CNET.com
113. ^ Newstatesman.com
114. ^ Physorg.com
115. ^ SFgate.com
116. ^ "Data source". OpesC. http://www.opesc.org/fiche-societe/fiche-societe.p... Retrieved 2008-03-16.
117. ^ Yahoo.co.jp
118. ^ "Darren Petterson promises an important increase in Yahoo!, in Romania" (in Romanian). 2008-05-30. http://www.wall-street.ro/articol/Marketing-PR/427... Retrieved 2010-02-13.
119. ^ "Darren Patterson, Yahoo!: Yahoo.ro is scheduled to launch by the end of Q3" (in Romanian). Ziarul Financiar. 2008-05-15. http://www.zf.ro/business-hi-tech/darren-patterson... Retrieved 2010-02-13.
120. ^ "Fanache, the "only mohican" of Yahoo! in Romania: If there were no crisis, by now we will have had Yahoo! Mail and Messegenr in Romanian" (in Romanian). Daily Business. 2009-04-13. http://www.dailybusiness.ro/stiri-new-media/stiri-... Retrieved 2010-02-13.
121. ^ "Yahoo! Romania will launch in June 2010" (in Romanian). Smash.ro. 2010-11-02. http://www.smash.ro/punctro/yahoo-romania-se-lanse... Retrieved 2010-02-13.
122. ^ "Mediacafe: "Yahoo.ro won't revolutionise the market, and neither will it gross three times more money"". Money.ro. 2010-12-02. http://www.money.ro/new-media/mediacafe-yahoo-ro-n... Retrieved 2010-02-13.
123. ^ "Yahoo Logo Design", Logo Design History.
124. ^ Yahoo Press Room.
[edit] External links
* Yahoo website
* Yahoo Fun
* Yahoo addresses
* Yahoo calendar
* Yahoo mail
* Yahoo notepad
* Yodel anecdotal corporate blog
* Corporate milestones
* The History of Yahoo! - How It All Started …
* Earliest known Yahoo! website from 1996
* Jerry and Dave's Excellent Venture 'video about the beginnings of Yahoo
[show]
v • d • e
Yahoo! Inc.
Acquisitions · Criticism
Advertising
APT from Yahoo! · Panama · Yahoo! Publisher Network · Search Marketing
Development
Developer Network · Next · YQL
Search
BOSS · Directory · Finance · HotJobs · Kelkoo · Maps · Movies · Music (Music Radio) · News · omg! · Search · SearchMonkey · Sports
Communication
Answers · Buzz · Groups · Mail · Personals · Rivals · Upcoming · Voice
Publishing
360° Plus Vietnam · Associated Content · Babel Fish · Delicious · Fire Eagle · Flickr · Meme · MyBlogLog · Pipes · Video · Web Hosting
Software
FoxyTunes · Music Jukebox · Messenger (releases) · Toolbar · Widgets
Co-branded ISPs
AT&T · BT · Rogers · Verizon (DSL · FiOS)
Others
Games · Time Capsule
Discontinued
360° · Auctions (Wallet) · Briefcase · blo.gs · Broadcast.com · Dialpad · Desktop Search · Gallery · Go/Mobile · Kickstart · Mash · Musicmatch Jukebox · Music Unlimited · Photos · Podcasts · RocketMail · Live · GeoCities · The All-Seeing Eye · JumpCut · WebRing
Annual Revenue: ▲US$6.4 Billion (2009) · Employees: 13,900 (2009)
Stock Symbol: (NASDAQ: YHOO) · Website: Yahoo.com
[show]
v • d • e
Companies of the NASDAQ-100 index
Activision Blizzard · Adobe · Akamai · Altera · Amazon.com · Amgen · Apollo Group · Apple · Applied Materials · Autodesk · ADP · Baidu · Bed Bath & Beyond · Biogen Idec · BMC Software · Broadcom · C.H. Robinson · CA, Inc. · Celgene · Cephalon · Cerner · Check Point · Cintas · Cisco · Citrix · Cognizant · Comcast · Costco · Dell · Dentsply · DirecTV · Dish Network · eBay · Electronic Arts · Expedia · Expeditors International · Express Scripts · Fastenal · First Solar · Fiserv · Flextronics · FLIR Systems · Foster Wheeler · Garmin · Genzyme · Gilead Sciences · Google · Henry Schein · Hologic · Illumina · Infosys · Intel · Intuit · Intuitive Surgical · J. B. Hunt · Joy Global · KLA Tencor · Lam Research · Liberty Media · Life Technologies · Linear Technology · Logitech · Marvell · Mattel · Maxim Integrated Products · Microchip Technology · Microsoft · Millicom · Mylan · NetApp · News Corporation · NII · Nvidia · O'Reilly Automotive · Oracle · Paccar · Patterson Companies · Paychex · Priceline.com · Qiagen · Qualcomm · Research In Motion · Ross Stores · SanDisk · Seagate · Sears · Sigma-Aldrich · Staples · Starbucks · Stericycle · Symantec · Teva Pharmaceutical · Urban Outfitters · VeriSign · Vertex Pharmaceuticals · Virgin Media · Vodafone · Warner Chilcott · Wynn Resorts · Xilinx · Yahoo!
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahoo!"
Categories: Companies listed on NASDAQ | Companies in the NASDAQ-100 Index | Companies based in Sunnyvale, California | Companies established in 1995 | Internet properties established in 1995 | Internet companies of the United States | Internet search engines | Global internet community | Online companies | Web portals | Web service providers | Publicly traded companies | Internet history | World Wide Web | Human-computer interaction | Hypertext | New encyclopedism | Software companies of the United States | Yahoo! | American corporations | Public corporations | American public corporations
Hidden categories: All articles with dead external links | Articles with dead external links from April 2009 | Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2007 | All articles containing potentially dated statements | Articles with dead external links from August 2008
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Idiot
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
"Numbskull" redirects here. For the comic strip, see The Numskulls. For the American band, see The Numbskulls.
Goya's Bobabilicón.
For other uses, see Idiot (disambiguation) and The Idiot.
Page semi-protected
An idiot, dolt, or dullard is a mentally deficient person, or someone who acts in a self-defeating or significantly counterproductive way. More humorous synonyms of the term include addlehead, blockhead, bonehead, deadhead, dimwit, dodo, dope, dummy, dunderhead, nincompoop, ninny, nitwit, numbskull, stupidhead, thickhead, and twit, among many others. Archaically the word mome has also been used. The synonymous terms moron, imbecile, and cretin have all gained specialized meanings in modern times. An idiot is said to be idiotic, and to suffer from idiocy. A dunce is an idiot who is specifically incapable of learning. An idiot differs from a fool (who is unwise) and an ignoramus (who is uneducated/ an ignorant), neither of which refer to someone with low intelligence.
Contents
[hide]
* 1 History
* 2 Disability
* 3 United States law
* 4 In literature
* 5 See also
* 6 References
* 7 External links
History
Main article: Idiot (Athenian democracy)
"Idiot" originally referred to "layman, person lacking professional skill", "person so mentally deficient as to be incapable of ordinary reasoning". Declining to take part in public life, such as democratic government of the polis (city state), such as the Athenian democracy, was considered dishonorable. "Idiots" were seen as having bad judgment in public and political matters. Over time, the term "idiot" shifted away from its original connotation of selfishness and came to refer to individuals with overall bad judgment–individuals who are "stupid". In modern English usage, the terms "idiot" and "idiocy" describe an extreme folly or stupidity, and its symptoms (foolish or stupid utterance or deed). In psychology, it is a historical term for the state or condition now called profound mental retardation.[1]
Idiot as a word derived from the Greek ἰδιώτης, idiōtēs ("person lacking professional skill," "a private citizen," "individual"), from ἴδιος, idios ("private," "one's own").[2] In Latin the word idiota ("ordinary person, layman") preceded the Late Latin meaning "uneducated or ignorant person."[3] Its modern meaning and form dates back to Middle English around the year 1300, from the Old French idiote ("uneducated or ignorant person"). The related word idiocy dates to 1487 and may have been analogously modeled on the words prophet[4] and prophecy.[5][6] The word has cognates in many other languages.
Disability
In 19th and early 20th century medicine and psychology, an "idiot" was a person with a very severe mental retardation. In the early 1900s, Dr. Henry H. Goddard proposed a classification system for mental retardation based on the Binet-Simon concept of mental age. Individuals with the lowest mental age level (less than three years) were identified as idiots; imbiciles (sic) had a mental age of three to 7 years., and morons had a mental age of seven to ten years.[7] IQ, or intelligence quotient, is determined by dividing a person's mental age, as determined by standardized tests, by chronological age. The term "idiot" is sometimes used to refer to people having an IQ below 30.[8][9]
In current medical classification, these people are now said to have profound mental retardation.[1]
United States law
Until 2007, the California Penal Code Section 26 stated that "Idiots" were one of six types of people who are not capable of committing crimes. In 2007 the code was amended to read "persons who are mentally incapacitated."[10] In 2008, Iowa voters passed a measure replacing "idiot, or insane person" in the State's constitution with "person adjudged mentally incompetent."[11]
In several states, "idiots" do not have the right to vote:
* Arkansas Article III, Section 5[12]
* Kentucky Section 145[13]
* Mississippi Article 12, Section 241[14]
* New Mexico Article VII, section 1[15]
* Ohio (Article V, Section 6)[16]
In literature
Question book-new.svg
This section needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2006)
A few authors have used "idiot" characters in novels, plays and poetry. Often these characters are used to highlight or indicate something else (allegory). Examples of such usage are William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury and William Wordsworth's The Idiot Boy. Idiot characters in literature are often confused with or subsumed within mad or lunatic characters. The most common imbrication between these two categories of mental impairment occurs in the polemic surrounding Edmund from William Shakespeare's King Lear. In Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel The Idiot, the idiocy of the main character, Prince Lev Nikolaievich Myshkin, is attributed more to his honesty, trustfulness, kindness, and humility, than to a lack of intellectual ability. Nietzsche claimed, in his The Antichrist, that Jesus was an idiot. This resulted from his description of Jesus as having an aversion toward the material world.[17]
See also
Look up idiot in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
* Stupidity
* Idiocracy
* Euphemism
References
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
This article incorporates text from the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913, a publication now in the public domain.
1. ^ a b "idiocy". Merriam-Webster online. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/idiocy. Retrieved 2007-09-26.
2. ^ Liddell-Scott-Jones A Greek-English Lexicon, entries for ἰδιώτης and ἴδιος.
3. ^ Words, entry idiota.
4. ^ Etymonline.com, entry prophet
5. ^ Etymonline.com, entry prophecy
6. ^ Etymonline.com, entry idiot
7. ^ Zaretsky, Herbert H.; Richter, Edwin F.; Eisenberg, Myron G. (2005), Medical aspects of disability: a handbook for the rehabilitation professional (third edition, illustrated ed.), Springer Publishing Company, p. 346, ISBN 9780826179739, http://books.google.com/books?id=7TZGYRu-_Y4C .
8. ^ Rapley, Mark (2004), The Social Construction of Intellectual Disability, Cambridge University Press, p. 32, ISBN 9780521005296, http://books.google.com/books?id=KdQS5Z_mGbQC .
9. ^ Cruz, Isagani A.; Quaison, Correct Choice of Words' : English Grammar Series for Filipino Lawyers (2003 Edition ed.), Rex Bookstore, Inc., pp. 444-445, ISBN 9789712336867, http://books.google.com/books?id=I2FnOYgu6IsC .
10. ^ "Penal Code section 25-29". State of California. http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?sect... Retrieved 2007-09-21.
11. ^ "Ballot Initiatives: No to Gay Marriage, Anti-Abortion Measures". time.com. 5 November 2008. http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1... Retrieved 2009-02-26.
12. ^ Arkansas Article III, Section 5
13. ^ Kentucky Section 145
14. ^ Mississippi Constitution of the State of Mississippi See Article 12, Section 241
15. ^ New Mexico Constitution, Article VII, section 1
16. ^ Ohio Constitution, Article V, Section 6
17. ^ Nietzsche, Friedrich (1895). The Antichrist. http://www.handprint.com/SC/NIE/antich.html. "To make a hero of Jesus! And even more, what a misunderstanding is the word "genius"! Our whole concept, our cultural concept, of "spirit" has no meaning whatever in the world in which Jesus lives. Spoken with the precision of a physiologist, even an entirely different word would be yet more fitting here—the word idiot."
(§ 29, partially quoted here, contains three words that were suppressed by Nietzsche's sister when she published The Antichrist in 1895. The words are: "das Wort Idiot", translated here as "the word idiot". They were not made public until 1931, by Josef Hofmiller. H.L. Mencken's 1920 translation does not contain these words.)
External links
* Dictionary.Reference.Com "Middle English, ignorant person, from Old French idiote (modern French idiot), from Latin idiota, from Greek idiotès, private person, layman, from idios, own, private."
* Etymonline "c.1300, "person so mentally deficient as to be incapable of ordinary reasoning," from Old French idiote "uneducated or ignorant person," from Latin idiota "ordinary person, layman," in Late Latin "uneducated or ignorant person," from Greek idiotes "layman, person lacking professional skill," literally "private person," used patronizingly for "ignorant person," from idios "one's own".
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiot"
Categories: Disability | Greek loanwords | Obsolete medical terms | Pejorative terms for people
Hidden categories: Articles containing Ancient Greek language text | Wikipedia pages semi-protected against vandalism | Wikipedia protected pages without expiry | Articles needing additional references from October 2006 | All articles needing additional references | Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica | Articles incorporating text from the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia without Wikisource reference
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* Contact us
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
"Numbskull" redirects here. For the comic strip, see The Numskulls. For the American band, see The Numbskulls.
Goya's Bobabilicón.
For other uses, see Idiot (disambiguation) and The Idiot.
Page semi-protected
An idiot, dolt, or dullard is a mentally deficient person, or someone who acts in a self-defeating or significantly counterproductive way. More humorous synonyms of the term include addlehead, blockhead, bonehead, deadhead, dimwit, dodo, dope, dummy, dunderhead, nincompoop, ninny, nitwit, numbskull, stupidhead, thickhead, and twit, among many others. Archaically the word mome has also been used. The synonymous terms moron, imbecile, and cretin have all gained specialized meanings in modern times. An idiot is said to be idiotic, and to suffer from idiocy. A dunce is an idiot who is specifically incapable of learning. An idiot differs from a fool (who is unwise) and an ignoramus (who is uneducated/ an ignorant), neither of which refer to someone with low intelligence.
Contents
[hide]
* 1 History
* 2 Disability
* 3 United States law
* 4 In literature
* 5 See also
* 6 References
* 7 External links
History
Main article: Idiot (Athenian democracy)
"Idiot" originally referred to "layman, person lacking professional skill", "person so mentally deficient as to be incapable of ordinary reasoning". Declining to take part in public life, such as democratic government of the polis (city state), such as the Athenian democracy, was considered dishonorable. "Idiots" were seen as having bad judgment in public and political matters. Over time, the term "idiot" shifted away from its original connotation of selfishness and came to refer to individuals with overall bad judgment–individuals who are "stupid". In modern English usage, the terms "idiot" and "idiocy" describe an extreme folly or stupidity, and its symptoms (foolish or stupid utterance or deed). In psychology, it is a historical term for the state or condition now called profound mental retardation.[1]
Idiot as a word derived from the Greek ἰδιώτης, idiōtēs ("person lacking professional skill," "a private citizen," "individual"), from ἴδιος, idios ("private," "one's own").[2] In Latin the word idiota ("ordinary person, layman") preceded the Late Latin meaning "uneducated or ignorant person."[3] Its modern meaning and form dates back to Middle English around the year 1300, from the Old French idiote ("uneducated or ignorant person"). The related word idiocy dates to 1487 and may have been analogously modeled on the words prophet[4] and prophecy.[5][6] The word has cognates in many other languages.
Disability
In 19th and early 20th century medicine and psychology, an "idiot" was a person with a very severe mental retardation. In the early 1900s, Dr. Henry H. Goddard proposed a classification system for mental retardation based on the Binet-Simon concept of mental age. Individuals with the lowest mental age level (less than three years) were identified as idiots; imbiciles (sic) had a mental age of three to 7 years., and morons had a mental age of seven to ten years.[7] IQ, or intelligence quotient, is determined by dividing a person's mental age, as determined by standardized tests, by chronological age. The term "idiot" is sometimes used to refer to people having an IQ below 30.[8][9]
In current medical classification, these people are now said to have profound mental retardation.[1]
United States law
Until 2007, the California Penal Code Section 26 stated that "Idiots" were one of six types of people who are not capable of committing crimes. In 2007 the code was amended to read "persons who are mentally incapacitated."[10] In 2008, Iowa voters passed a measure replacing "idiot, or insane person" in the State's constitution with "person adjudged mentally incompetent."[11]
In several states, "idiots" do not have the right to vote:
* Arkansas Article III, Section 5[12]
* Kentucky Section 145[13]
* Mississippi Article 12, Section 241[14]
* New Mexico Article VII, section 1[15]
* Ohio (Article V, Section 6)[16]
In literature
Question book-new.svg
This section needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2006)
A few authors have used "idiot" characters in novels, plays and poetry. Often these characters are used to highlight or indicate something else (allegory). Examples of such usage are William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury and William Wordsworth's The Idiot Boy. Idiot characters in literature are often confused with or subsumed within mad or lunatic characters. The most common imbrication between these two categories of mental impairment occurs in the polemic surrounding Edmund from William Shakespeare's King Lear. In Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel The Idiot, the idiocy of the main character, Prince Lev Nikolaievich Myshkin, is attributed more to his honesty, trustfulness, kindness, and humility, than to a lack of intellectual ability. Nietzsche claimed, in his The Antichrist, that Jesus was an idiot. This resulted from his description of Jesus as having an aversion toward the material world.[17]
See also
Look up idiot in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
* Stupidity
* Idiocracy
* Euphemism
References
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
This article incorporates text from the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913, a publication now in the public domain.
1. ^ a b "idiocy". Merriam-Webster online. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/idiocy. Retrieved 2007-09-26.
2. ^ Liddell-Scott-Jones A Greek-English Lexicon, entries for ἰδιώτης and ἴδιος.
3. ^ Words, entry idiota.
4. ^ Etymonline.com, entry prophet
5. ^ Etymonline.com, entry prophecy
6. ^ Etymonline.com, entry idiot
7. ^ Zaretsky, Herbert H.; Richter, Edwin F.; Eisenberg, Myron G. (2005), Medical aspects of disability: a handbook for the rehabilitation professional (third edition, illustrated ed.), Springer Publishing Company, p. 346, ISBN 9780826179739, http://books.google.com/books?id=7TZGYRu-_Y4C .
8. ^ Rapley, Mark (2004), The Social Construction of Intellectual Disability, Cambridge University Press, p. 32, ISBN 9780521005296, http://books.google.com/books?id=KdQS5Z_mGbQC .
9. ^ Cruz, Isagani A.; Quaison, Correct Choice of Words' : English Grammar Series for Filipino Lawyers (2003 Edition ed.), Rex Bookstore, Inc., pp. 444-445, ISBN 9789712336867, http://books.google.com/books?id=I2FnOYgu6IsC .
10. ^ "Penal Code section 25-29". State of California. http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?sect... Retrieved 2007-09-21.
11. ^ "Ballot Initiatives: No to Gay Marriage, Anti-Abortion Measures". time.com. 5 November 2008. http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1... Retrieved 2009-02-26.
12. ^ Arkansas Article III, Section 5
13. ^ Kentucky Section 145
14. ^ Mississippi Constitution of the State of Mississippi See Article 12, Section 241
15. ^ New Mexico Constitution, Article VII, section 1
16. ^ Ohio Constitution, Article V, Section 6
17. ^ Nietzsche, Friedrich (1895). The Antichrist. http://www.handprint.com/SC/NIE/antich.html. "To make a hero of Jesus! And even more, what a misunderstanding is the word "genius"! Our whole concept, our cultural concept, of "spirit" has no meaning whatever in the world in which Jesus lives. Spoken with the precision of a physiologist, even an entirely different word would be yet more fitting here—the word idiot."
(§ 29, partially quoted here, contains three words that were suppressed by Nietzsche's sister when she published The Antichrist in 1895. The words are: "das Wort Idiot", translated here as "the word idiot". They were not made public until 1931, by Josef Hofmiller. H.L. Mencken's 1920 translation does not contain these words.)
External links
* Dictionary.Reference.Com "Middle English, ignorant person, from Old French idiote (modern French idiot), from Latin idiota, from Greek idiotès, private person, layman, from idios, own, private."
* Etymonline "c.1300, "person so mentally deficient as to be incapable of ordinary reasoning," from Old French idiote "uneducated or ignorant person," from Latin idiota "ordinary person, layman," in Late Latin "uneducated or ignorant person," from Greek idiotes "layman, person lacking professional skill," literally "private person," used patronizingly for "ignorant person," from idios "one's own".
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiot"
Categories: Disability | Greek loanwords | Obsolete medical terms | Pejorative terms for people
Hidden categories: Articles containing Ancient Greek language text | Wikipedia pages semi-protected against vandalism | Wikipedia protected pages without expiry | Articles needing additional references from October 2006 | All articles needing additional references | Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica | Articles incorporating text from the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia without Wikisource reference
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newz.dk
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newz.dk
URL-adresse newz.dk
Sidens type Nyhedsportal
Sprog Dansk
Registrering Ikke påkrævet
Ejer(e) Johnny Rechnagel
Skabt af Henrik Nicolaisen
Lanceret 1999
Sidens status Online
newz.dk er et dansk websted med teknologinyheder, som i 1999 blev skabt i Sønderborg, men høre idag hjemme i Vamdrup nær Kolding. newz.dk har indtil 2008 eksisteret som selvstændig nyhedssite. Men i 2008 kom de 2 undersektioner MacNation og Railgun til verden. På forsiden findes der nyheder – primært fra it-verdenen, men også om andre emner, der kan være interessante for nørder – som f.eks. astronomi. Der på newz.dk muligheden for, at medlemmer der har oprettet en bruger kan diskutere den pågældende nyhed igennem det tilknyttede kommentarsystem, der også er meget brugt til andre formål – som f.eks. folk, der vil have computersupport eller diskutere ting med andre nørder. Af og til er der diskussioner om, hvorvidt newz.dk kun skal handle om computerrelaterede emner, eller om siden også skal vise nyheder om andre emner, hvilket endte med, at undersiderne MacNation (om Apple-relaterede nyheder) og Railgun (om computer- og konsolspilrelaterede nyheder) blev skabt, som også nævnt i starten.
Indholdsfortegnelse
[skjul]
* 1 Nyt layout
* 2 Samarbejdspartnere
* 3 Hacket juleaften
* 4 Eksterne henvisninger
* 5 Referencer
[redigér] Nyt layout
I 2007 fik hjemmesiden nyt layout og der blev lavet en del om i forum-systemet. Dette er den tredje gennemgribende ombygning. Dette blev kaldt newz.dk v4, som navnet siger, altså den 4 version i rækken. Det mest gennemgribende i den nye version er det ændrede udseende samt de mange ekstra funktioner, yderligere er det blevet lettere for brugerne at bidrage til indsendelsen af nyheder, samt redigering af dem.
[redigér] Samarbejdspartnere
newz.dk var før hovedsageligt baseret på brugerleveret indhold, men det ændrede sig efter indgåelsen af partnerskabet med Freeway Media i 2008, hvorefter der blev oprettet en egentlig redaktion med en ansvarshavende redaktør og aflønnede medarbejdere. De brugerindsendte nyheder udgør dog stadig en stor del af nyhedsstrømmen, men som før udvælges og censureres indholdet af redaktionen.. Den 28. oktober 2008 meddelte newz.dk, via en pressemeddelelse, at de afbrød samarbejdet med Freeway koncernen. Sagen blev i de efterfølgende dag omtalt heftigt i pressen, idet begge parter beskyldte modparten for ikke at have overholdt samarbejdets betingelser.[1]
[redigér] Hacket juleaften
D. 24. december 2007 blev newz.dk hacket af Team Gillmore Girls. Gruppen siger selv, at de skulle have hacket siden ved hjælp af et usikkert eval-script, hvor de fik adgang til at køre selv-definerede PHP-scripts, og på den måde overtog de serveren. Newz.dk skrev selv, at de bare havde downloadet en gammel backup af en brugerliste. Team Gillmore Girls begyndte straks at dekryptere de mange brugeres adgangskoder, hvor af 5.000 blev lagt ud på en blog (der nu er slettet) for at bevise hacket (med adgangskoder, navne, emails og IP-adresser for de viste brugere). De efterfølgende dage (nu indtil d. 30/12) blev newz.dk lagt ned i flere dage, hvor siden viste mærkelige fejl-meddelelser eller forsøgte at lave et uendeligt antal omstillinger til sig selv.
[redigér] Eksterne henvisninger
* newz.dk
[redigér] Referencer
1. ↑ Pressemeddelelse: newz.dk afbryder samarbejde med Freeway-koncernen (28. oktober, 2008)
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newz.dk
URL-adresse newz.dk
Sidens type Nyhedsportal
Sprog Dansk
Registrering Ikke påkrævet
Ejer(e) Johnny Rechnagel
Skabt af Henrik Nicolaisen
Lanceret 1999
Sidens status Online
newz.dk er et dansk websted med teknologinyheder, som i 1999 blev skabt i Sønderborg, men høre idag hjemme i Vamdrup nær Kolding. newz.dk har indtil 2008 eksisteret som selvstændig nyhedssite. Men i 2008 kom de 2 undersektioner MacNation og Railgun til verden. På forsiden findes der nyheder – primært fra it-verdenen, men også om andre emner, der kan være interessante for nørder – som f.eks. astronomi. Der på newz.dk muligheden for, at medlemmer der har oprettet en bruger kan diskutere den pågældende nyhed igennem det tilknyttede kommentarsystem, der også er meget brugt til andre formål – som f.eks. folk, der vil have computersupport eller diskutere ting med andre nørder. Af og til er der diskussioner om, hvorvidt newz.dk kun skal handle om computerrelaterede emner, eller om siden også skal vise nyheder om andre emner, hvilket endte med, at undersiderne MacNation (om Apple-relaterede nyheder) og Railgun (om computer- og konsolspilrelaterede nyheder) blev skabt, som også nævnt i starten.
Indholdsfortegnelse
[skjul]
* 1 Nyt layout
* 2 Samarbejdspartnere
* 3 Hacket juleaften
* 4 Eksterne henvisninger
* 5 Referencer
[redigér] Nyt layout
I 2007 fik hjemmesiden nyt layout og der blev lavet en del om i forum-systemet. Dette er den tredje gennemgribende ombygning. Dette blev kaldt newz.dk v4, som navnet siger, altså den 4 version i rækken. Det mest gennemgribende i den nye version er det ændrede udseende samt de mange ekstra funktioner, yderligere er det blevet lettere for brugerne at bidrage til indsendelsen af nyheder, samt redigering af dem.
[redigér] Samarbejdspartnere
newz.dk var før hovedsageligt baseret på brugerleveret indhold, men det ændrede sig efter indgåelsen af partnerskabet med Freeway Media i 2008, hvorefter der blev oprettet en egentlig redaktion med en ansvarshavende redaktør og aflønnede medarbejdere. De brugerindsendte nyheder udgør dog stadig en stor del af nyhedsstrømmen, men som før udvælges og censureres indholdet af redaktionen.. Den 28. oktober 2008 meddelte newz.dk, via en pressemeddelelse, at de afbrød samarbejdet med Freeway koncernen. Sagen blev i de efterfølgende dag omtalt heftigt i pressen, idet begge parter beskyldte modparten for ikke at have overholdt samarbejdets betingelser.[1]
[redigér] Hacket juleaften
D. 24. december 2007 blev newz.dk hacket af Team Gillmore Girls. Gruppen siger selv, at de skulle have hacket siden ved hjælp af et usikkert eval-script, hvor de fik adgang til at køre selv-definerede PHP-scripts, og på den måde overtog de serveren. Newz.dk skrev selv, at de bare havde downloadet en gammel backup af en brugerliste. Team Gillmore Girls begyndte straks at dekryptere de mange brugeres adgangskoder, hvor af 5.000 blev lagt ud på en blog (der nu er slettet) for at bevise hacket (med adgangskoder, navne, emails og IP-adresser for de viste brugere). De efterfølgende dage (nu indtil d. 30/12) blev newz.dk lagt ned i flere dage, hvor siden viste mærkelige fejl-meddelelser eller forsøgte at lave et uendeligt antal omstillinger til sig selv.
[redigér] Eksterne henvisninger
* newz.dk
[redigér] Referencer
1. ↑ Pressemeddelelse: newz.dk afbryder samarbejde med Freeway-koncernen (28. oktober, 2008)
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Denmark
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This article is about the country. For other uses, see Denmark (disambiguation).
Denmark
Danmark
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: none
(Royal motto: Guds hjælp, Folkets kærlighed, Danmarks styrke
"God's Help, the People's Love, Denmark's Strength")
Anthem: Der er et yndigt land (national)
Royal anthem: Kong Christian stod ved højen mast (royal and national)
Location of Denmark (dark green)– on the European continent (light green & dark grey)– in the European Union (light green) — [Legend]
Location of Denmark (dark green)
– on the European continent (light green & dark grey)
– in the European Union (light green) — [Legend]
Capital
(and largest city) Copenhagen
55°43′N 12°34′E / 55.717°N 12.567°E / 55.717; 12.567
Official language(s) Danish1
Ethnic groups 90.1% Danish
9.9% other (2010)[1]
Demonym Danish or Dane(s)
Government Parliamentary democracy and Constitutional monarchy
- Queen Margrethe II
- Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen
- Folketing Speaker Thor Pedersen
- Current coalition VK Coalition
Consolidation 8th century
EU accession 1 January 1973 (7th)
Area
- Total 43,098.31 km2 (134th²)
16,640 sq mi
- Water (%) 1.64²
Population
- 1 April 2010 estimate 5,540,241 (108th)
- Density 127.9/km2 (78th²)
331.2/sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2009 estimate
- Total $197.058 billion[2]
- Per capita US$35,757[2]
GDP (nominal) 2009 estimate
- Total US$309.252 billion[2]
- Per capita US$56,115[2]
Gini (2009) 24.7 (low) (1st)
HDI (2007) ▲ 0.955[3] (very high) (16th)
Currency Danish krone (DKK)
Time zone CET² (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST) CEST² (UTC+2)
Drives on the right
Internet TLD .dk2,3
Calling code 454
1 Co-official with Faroese in the Faroe Islands. German is recognised as a protected minority language in the South Jutland (Sønderjylland) area of Denmark. Danish is recognised as a protected minority language in the Schleswig-Holstein region of Germany.
² For Denmark excluding the Faroe Islands and Greenland.
³ The TLD .eu is shared with other European Union countries.
4 The Faroe Islands use +298 and Greenland uses +299.
Denmark (pronounced /ˈdɛnmɑrk/ ( listen); Danish: Danmark, pronounced [ˈd̥ænmɑɡ̊], archaic: [ˈd̥anmɑːɡ̊]) is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea. The country consists of a large peninsula, Jutland (Jylland) and many islands, most notably Zealand (Sjælland), Funen (Fyn), Vendsyssel-Thy, Lolland, Falster and Bornholm, as well as hundreds of minor islands often referred to as the Danish Archipelago. Denmark has long controlled the approach to the Baltic Sea; before the digging of the Kiel Canal, water passage to the Baltic sea was possible only through the three channels known as the "Danish straits".
Denmark is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of government. Denmark has a state-level government and local governments in 98 municipalities. Denmark has been a member of the European Union since 1973, although it has not joined the Eurozone. Denmark is a founding member of NATO and the OECD. Denmark is also a member of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
Denmark, with a mixed market capitalist economy and a large welfare state,[4] ranks as having the world's highest level of income equality. Denmark has the best business climate in the world, according to the U.S. business magazine Forbes.[5] From 2006 to 2008, surveys[6] ranked Denmark as "the happiest place in the world", based on standards of health, welfare, and education. The 2009 Global Peace Index survey ranks Denmark as the second most peaceful country in the world, after New Zealand.[7] In 2009, Denmark was ranked as one of the least corrupt countries in the world according to the Corruption Perceptions Index, ranking second only to New Zealand.[8]
The national language, Danish, is close to Swedish and Norwegian, with which it shares strong cultural and historical ties. 82% of the inhabitants of Denmark and 90.3% of the ethnic Danes are members of the Lutheran state church. As of 2009, 526,000 persons (9.5% of the Danish population) were either immigrants or descendants of recent immigrants. Most of these (54%) have their origins in Scandinavia or elsewhere in Europe, while the remainder originate mainly from Middle Eastern and African countries.
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Etymology
o 1.1 Mythological explanations
o 1.2 Earliest occurrences
* 2 History
o 2.1 Prehistory
o 2.2 Viking Age
o 2.3 Medieval Denmark
o 2.4 Kalmar Union
o 2.5 Protestant Reformation
o 2.6 Modern history
o 2.7 20th and 21st centuries
* 3 Geography
o 3.1 Climate
* 4 Environment
o 4.1 Denmark's GDP per emissions
* 5 Government and politics
* 6 Regions and municipalities
* 7 Economy
o 7.1 Energy
o 7.2 Transport
o 7.3 Public policy
* 8 Demographics
o 8.1 Religion
* 9 Education
* 10 Culture
o 10.1 Cinema
o 10.2 Literature
o 10.3 Sports
o 10.4 Music
o 10.5 Food
* 11 Military
* 12 International rankings
* 13 Notes
* 14 References
* 15 External links
[edit] Etymology
The etymology of the word Denmark, and especially the relationship between Danes and Denmark and the unifying of Denmark as a single Kingdom, is a subject which attracts some debate.[9][10] The debate is centred primarily around the prefix 'Dan' and whether it refers to the Dani or a historical person Dan and the exact meaning of the -mark ending. The issue is further complicated by a number of references to various Dani people in Scandinavia or other places in Europe in ancient Greek and Roman accounts (like Ptolemy, Jordanes, and Gregory of Tours), as well as some mediaeval literature (like Adam of Bremen, Beowulf, Widsith, and Poetic Edda).
Most handbooks derive[11] the first part of the word, and the name of the people, from a word meaning "flat land", related to German Tenne "threshing floor", English den "cave", Sanskrit dhánuṣ- (धनुस्; "desert"). The -mark is believed to mean woodland or borderland (see marches), with probable references to the border forests in south Schleswig,[12] maybe similar to Finnmark, Telemark, or Dithmarschen.[13]
In Norse, the land was called Danmǫrk.
[edit] Mythological explanations
Some of the earliest descriptions of the origin of the word 'Denmark', describing a territory, are found in the Chronicon Lethrense (12th century), Svend Aagesen (late 12th century), Saxo Grammaticus (early 13th century), and the Ballad of Eric (mid 15th century). There are, however, many more Danish annuals and yearbooks containing various other details, similar tales in other variations, other names or spelling variations.
The Chronicon Lethrense explains that when the Roman Emperor Augustus went against Denmark in the time of David,[14] Denmark consisted of seven territories Jutland, Funen, Zealand, Møn, Falster, Lolland and Skåne which were governed by King Ypper of Uppsala. He had three sons, Nori, Østen, and Dan. Dan was sent to govern Zealand, Møn, Falster, and Lolland, which became known jointly as Videslev. When the Jutes were fighting Emperor Augustus they called upon Dan to help them. Upon victory, they made him king of Jutland, Funen, Videslev, and Skåne. A council decided to call this new united land Danmark (Dania) (English: Denmark) after their new king, Dan. Saxo relates that it is the legendary Danish King Dan, son of Humbli, who gave the name to the Danish people, though he does not expressly state that he is also the origin of the word "Denmark". Rather he tells that England ultimately derives its name from Dan’s brother Angel.
[edit] Earliest occurrences
The Jelling Stones, commonly referred to as Denmark's "birth certificate", seen from the north with "Gorm's Mound" in the background
The earliest mention of a territory called "Denmark" is found in King Alfred the Great's modified translation into Old English of Paulus Orosius' Seven Books of History Against The Pagans ("Historiarum adversum Paganos Libri Septem"), written by Alfred when king of Wessex in the years 871–899. In a passage introduced to the text by Alfred, we read about Ohthere of Hålogaland’s travels in the Nordic region, during which 'Denmark [Denamearc] was on his port side... And then for two days he had on his [port side] the islands which belong to Denmark'.[15]
The first recorded use of the word "Denmark" within Denmark itself is found on the two Jelling stones, which are rune stones believed to have been erected by Gorm the Old (c. 955) and Harald Bluetooth (c. 965). The larger stone of the two is often cited as Denmark's birth certificate, though both use the word "Denmark", in the form of accusative "tanmaurk" (Danish pronunciation: [danmɒrk]) on the large stone, and genitive "tanmarkar" (pronounced [danmarkaɽ]) on the small stone.[16] The inhabitants of Denmark are there called "tani" ([danɪ]), or "Danes", in the accusative.
In The Song of Roland, estimated to have been written between 1040 and 1115, the first mention of the legendary Danish hero Holger Danske appears; he is mentioned several times as "Holger of Denmark" (Ogier de Denemarche).
[edit] History
Main article: History of Denmark
Hankehøj, by Johan Lundbye. A Danish down. Note the glacial character of the terrain and the burial mound of an early chief in the centre.
[edit] Prehistory
The earliest archaeological findings in Denmark date back to the Eem interglacial period from 130,000-110,000 BC.[17] Denmark has been inhabited since around 12,500 BC and agriculture has been evident since 3,900 BC.[18] The Nordic Bronze Age (1,800–600 BC) in Denmark was marked by burial mounds, which left an abundance of findings including lurs and the Sun Chariot.
During the Pre-Roman Iron Age (500 BC – 1 AD), native groups began migrating south, although[18] the first Danish people came to the country between the Pre-Roman and the Germanic Iron Age,[19] in the Roman Iron Age (1–400 AD). The Roman provinces maintained trade routes and relations with native tribes in Denmark, and Roman coins have been found in Denmark. Evidence of strong Celtic cultural influence dates from this period in Denmark and much of northwest Europe and is among other things reflected in the finding of the Gundestrup cauldron.
The gilded side of the Trundholm sun chariot
Historians believe that before the arrival of the precursors to the Danes, who came from the east Danish islands (Zealand) and Skåne and spoke an early form of north Germanic, most of Jutland and some islands were settled by Jutes. They were later invited to Great Britain as mercenaries by Brythonic King Vortigern and were granted the south-eastern territories of Kent, the Isle of Wight, among other areas, where they settled. They were later absorbed or ethnically cleansed by the invading Angles and Saxons, who formed the Anglo-Saxons. The remaining population in Jutland assimilated in with the Danes.
A short note[20] about the Dani in "Getica" by historian Jordanes is believed by some to be an early mention of the Danes,[21] one of the ethnic groups from whom the modern Danish people are descended. The Danevirke defence structures were built in phases from the 3rd century forward,[22] and the sheer size of the construction efforts in 737 are attributed to the emergence of a Danish king.[22] The new runic alphabet was first used around the same time, and Ribe, the oldest town of Denmark, was founded about 700.
[edit] Viking Age
Main article: Viking Age
The Ladby ship, the largest ship burial found in Denmark
The Danish people were amongst those known as the Vikings during the 8th-11th centuries. Viking explorers first discovered and settled in Iceland in the 9th century, on their way from the Faroe Islands. From there, Greenland and Vinland (probably Newfoundland) were also settled. Utilising their great skills in shipbuilding they raided and conquered parts of France and the British Isles. But they also excelled in trading along the coasts and rivers of Europe, running trade routes from Greenland in the north to Constantinople in the south via Russian rivers. The Danish Vikings were most active in Britain, Ireland and France, and they raided, conquered and settled parts of England (their earliest settlements included sites in the Danelaw, Ireland, and Normandy).
In the early 9th century, Charlemagne's Christian empire had expanded to the southern border of the Danes, and Frankish sources (e.g. Notker of St Gall) provide the earliest historical evidence of the Danes. These report a King Gudfred, who appeared in present day Holstein with a navy in 804 where diplomacy took place with the Franks; In 808, King Gudfred attacked the Obotrite and conquered the city of Reric whose population was displaced or abducted to Hedeby. In 809, King Godfred and emissaries of Charlemagne failed to negotiate peace, and the next year King Godfred attacked the Frisians with 200 ships.
The oldest parts of the defensive works of Danevirke near Hedeby at least date from the summer of 755 and were expanded with large works in the 10th century. The size and amount of troops needed to man it indicates a quite powerful ruler in the area, which might be consistent with the kings of the Frankish sources. In 815 AD, Emperor Louis the Pious attacked Jutland apparently in support of a contender to the throne, perhaps Harald Klak, but was turned back by the sons of Godfred, who most likely were the sons of the above mentioned Godfred. At the same time Saint Ansgar travelled to Hedeby and started the Catholic Christianization of Scandinavia.
Map showing Danevirke and Hærvejen
The Danes were united and officially Christianised in 965 AD by Harald Blåtand, the story of which is recorded on the Jelling stones. The extent of Harald's Danish Kingdom is unknown, although it is reasonable to believe that it stretched from the defensive line of Dannevirke, including the Viking city of Hedeby, across Jutland, the Danish isles and into southern present day Sweden; Scania and perhaps Halland and Blekinge. Furthermore, the Jelling stones attest that Harald had also "won" Norway. In retaliation for the St. Brice's Day massacre of Danes in England, the son of Harald, Sweyn Forkbeard mounted a series of wars of conquest against England, which was completed by Svend's son Canute the Great by the middle of the 11th century.[23]
Following the death of Canute the Great, Denmark and England were divided. Sweyn Estridsen's son, Canute IV, raided England for the last time in 1085. He planned another invasion to take the throne of England from an aging William I. He called up a fleet of 1,000 Danish ships, 60 Norwegian long boats, with plans to meet with another 600 ships under Duke Robert of Flanders in the summer of 1086. Canute, however, was beginning to realise that the imposition of the tithe on Danish peasants and nobles to fund the expansion of monasteries and churches and a new head tax (Danish:nefgjald) had brought his people to the verge of rebellion. Canute took weeks to arrive at Struer where the fleet had assembled, but he found only the Norwegians still there.
Canute thanked the Norwegians for their patience and then went from assembly to assembly (Danish:landsting) outlawing any sailor, captain, or soldier who refused to pay a fine which amounted to more than a years harvest for most farmers. Canute and his housecarls fled south with a growing army of rebels on his heels. Canute fled to the royal property outside the town of Odense on Funen with his two brothers. After several attempts to break in and then bloody hand to hand fighting in the church, Benedict was cut down and Canute struck in the head by a large stone and then speared from the front. He died at the base of the main altar 10 July 1086, where he was buried by the Benedictines. When Queen Edele came to take Canute's body to Flanders, a light allegedly shone around the church and it was taken as a sign that Canute should remain where he was.
The death of St. Canute marks the end of the Viking Age. Never again would massive flotillas of Scandinavians meet each year to ravage the rest of Christian Europe.
[edit] Medieval Denmark
From the Viking age towards the end of the 13th century, the kingdom of Denmark consisted of Jutland, north from the Eider River and the islands of Zealand, Funen, Bornholm, Skåne, Halland and Blekinge. The lands between the Eider and the Kongeåen were separated from the kingdom as two vassal duchies of Schleswig and Holstein.
Following the end of the 11th century, Denmark underwent a transition from a patchwork of regional chiefs (Danish:jarls) with a weak and semi-elected royal institution, into a realm which more reflected European feudalism, with a powerful king ruling through an influential nobility. The period is marked by internal strife and the generally weak geopolitical position of the realm, which for long stretches fell under German influence. The period also featured the first of large stone buildings (mostly churches), a deep penetration by the Christian religion, the appearance of monastic orders in Denmark and the first written historical works such as the Gesta Danorum ("Deeds of the Danes"). German political as well as religious influence firmly ended in the last decades of the 12th century under the rule of King Valdemar the Great and his foster brother Absalon Hvide, Archbishop of Lund; through successful wars against Wend peoples of northeast Germany and the Holy Roman Empire.
The tomb of Margrethe I in Roskilde Cathedral
A high point was reached during the reign of Valdemar II, who led the formation of a Danish "Baltic Sea Empire", which by 1221 extended control from Estonia in the east to Norway in the north. In this period several of the "regional" law codes were given; notably the Code of Jutland from 1241, which asserted several modern concepts like right of property; "that the king cannot rule without and beyond the law"; "and that all men are equal to the law". Following the death of Valdemar II in 1241 and to the ascension of Valdemar IV in 1340, the kingdom was in general decline because of internal strife and the rise of the Hanseatic League. The competition between the sons of Valdemar II had the longterm result that the southern parts of Jutland were separated from the kingdom of Denmark and became semi-independent vassal duchies/counties.
[edit] Kalmar Union
During the reign of Valdemar IV and his daughter Margrethe I, the realm was re-invigorated; following the Battle of Falköping, Margrethe I had her sister's son, Eric of Pomerania crowned King of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden after the signing of the union charter of Kalmar, Trinity Sunday 1397.[24] United under a single crown it was thought that the new kingdom would create a great power in the north.[25] The three countries were to be treated as equals in the union. However, even from the start Margrethe of Denmark may not have been so idealistic—treating Denmark as the clear "senior" partner of the union.[25] Thus, much of the next 125 years of Scandinavian history revolves around this union, with Sweden breaking off and being re-conquered repeatedly. The issue was for practical purposes resolved on 17 June 1523, as Swedish King Gustav Vasa conquered the city of Stockholm. Denmark and Norway, however, remained in a personal union until the Congress of Vienna in 1814.
[edit] Protestant Reformation
Main article: Reformation in Denmark-Norway and Holstein
The Protestant Reformation came to Scandinavia in 1520s. On Easter Sunday 1525, Hans Tausen, a monk in the Order of St John's Hospitalers, proclaimed aloud the need for Martin Luther's reforms in the Catholic Church. His sermon was the beginning of a ten year struggle which would change Denmark forever. Tausen was hustled off to a monastery in Viborg in northern Jutland where he would be isolated and away from Copenhagen and the court. Tausen simply preached through the window of his locked chamber. At first curious Danes came to hear the strange new ideas that Tausen was preaching. Within weeks Tausen was freed by his loyal followers, and then a Franciscan abbey church was broken open so Viborgers could hear God's word under a roof. Luther's ideas were accepted so rapidly that the local bishop and other churchmen in Viborg were unable to cope. In many churches the mass was celebrated alongside Lutheran sermons, and then Tausen's version of Luther's teachings began to spread to other parts of Jutland. Within a year Tausen was the personal chaplain of King Frederik I. Frederik tried to balance the old and new ideas insisting that they coexist; it lasted only as long as Frederik did.
A mob stormed Our Lady Church in Copenhagen in 1531 tearing down statues, destroying side altars, artwork, and relics that had accumulated through its long history. Similar events happened through the country, although for the most part the change was peaceful. The majority of common people saw the reduced influence and wealth of the church as a liberating thing, but their new found influence did not last long.
At the death of Frederick I in 1533, two claimants to the throne—one backed by Protestant Lũbeck and the other by Catholic nobles—caused a civil war known as the Count's Feud (Danish: Grevens Fejde) (1534–1536).[26] The massacre of Skipper Clement's peasant army at Aalborg in December 1534 brought an end to the war and left the pro-Lutheran party firmly in charge.[27] Denmark became officially Lutheran in 1536. Denmark's Catholic bishops were arrested and imprisoned. Abbeys, nunneries, monasteries, and other church properties were confiscated by local nobility and the crown. Monks, nuns, and clergy lost their livelihood. The bishops who agreed to marry and not stir up trouble were given former church lands as personal estates.[28]
Catholic influence remained longest in Viborg and the nearby area, where change permeated slowly, although the reformation originally began there.[29]
[edit] Modern history
For most of its history the attention of Denmark had been directed to the south. The Germans in the form of either the Hanseatic League or in the form of the rebellious minority population of the province of Slesvig had been demanding all the attention of the Danish Kingdom for centuries. However, by 1500, the Hanseatic League was in considerable decline.[30] The rise of the Dutch nation as a sea power and its unrestricted trade with Scandinavia broke the monopoly of the Hansa.[31] By 1614, 60% of all shipping passing through the sound between Denmark and Sweden was Dutch shipping.[32] The problem of Slesvig was not so much resolved as it was over-shadowed by a larger problem, the rising power of Sweden.[33]
Indeed, the religious Peace of Augsburg in 1555 served as a watershed in the history of Denmark.[34] Instead of looking south to Germany as a threat, Denmark began to look to the north—toward Sweden as a worse threat. Like Denmark, most of northern Germany began to be deeply concerned about the military threat posed by a strong Sweden. Thus, the various German states began to worry less about supporting the German minority population in Slesvig and began to concentrate on the Swedish threat. Accordingly, Denmark was free to turn her attentions to Sweden as well.
After Sweden permanently broke away from the Kalmar Union in 1523, Denmark tried on two occasions to reassert control over Sweden. The first was in the Northern Seven Years War which lasted from 1563 until 1570. The second occasion was the Kalmar War when King Christian IV attacked Sweden in 1611 but failed to accomplish his main objective of forcing Sweden to return to the union with Denmark. The war led to no territorial changes, but Sweden was forced to pay a war indemnity of 1 million silver riksdaler to Denmark, an amount known as the Älvsborg ransom.[35]
King Christian used this money to found several towns and fortresses, most notably Glückstadt (founded as a rival to Hamburg), Christiania (following a fire destroying the original city of Oslo), Christianshavn, Christianstad, and Christiansand. Christian also constructed a number of buildings, most notably Børsen, Rundetårn, Nyboder, Rosenborg, a silver mine and a copper mill. Inspired by the Dutch East India Company, he founded a similar Danish company and planned to claim Sri Lanka as a colony, but the company only managed to acquire Tranquebar on India's Coromandel Coast.
In the Thirty Year's War, Christian tried to become the leader of the Lutheran states in Germany but suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of Lutter.[36] The result was that the Catholic army under Albrecht von Wallenstein was able to invade, occupy and pillage Jutland,[37] forcing Denmark to withdraw from the war. Denmark managed to avoid territorial concessions, but Gustavus Adolphus' intervention in Germany was seen as a sign that the military power of Sweden was on the rise while Denmark's influence in the region was declining. Swedish armies invaded Jutland in 1643 and claimed Skåne in 1644.
In the 1645 Treaty of Brømsebro, Denmark surrendered Halland, Gotland, the last parts of Danish Estonia, and several provinces in Norway. In 1657, King Frederick III declared war on Sweden and marched on Bremen-Verden. This led to a massive Danish defeat, and the armies of King Charles X Gustav of Sweden conquered Jutland, Funen, and much of Zealand before signing the Peace of Roskilde in February 1658 which gave Sweden control of Skåne, Blekinge, Trøndelag and the island of Bornholm. Charles X Gustav quickly regretted not having destroyed Denmark completely; in August 1658 he began a two-year long siege of Copenhagen but failed to take the capital. In the following peace settlement, Denmark managed to maintain its independence and regain control of Trøndelag and Bornholm.
Den Grundlovsgivende Rigsforsamling (The Constitutional Assembly. The Assembly created The Danish constitution), 1860–1864 painting by Constantin Hansen
Denmark tried to regain control of Scania in the Scanian War (1675–79), but it ended in failure. Following the Great Northern War (1700–21), Denmark managed to restore control of the parts of Schleswig and Holstein ruled by the house of Holstein-Gottorp in 1721 and 1773, respectively. Denmark prospered greatly in the last decades of the 18th century because its neutral status allowed it to trade with both sides in the many contemporary wars. In the Napoleonic Wars, Denmark originally tried to pursue a policy of neutrality to continue the lucrative trade with both France and the United Kingdom and joined the League of Armed Neutrality with Russian Empire, Sweden, and Kingdom of Prussia.
The British considered this a hostile act and attacked Copenhagen in both 1801 and 1807, in one case carrying off the Danish fleet and burning large parts of the Danish capital. These events mark the end of the prosperous Florissant Age and resulted in the Dano-British Gunboat War. British control over the waterways between Denmark and Norway proved disastrous to the union's economy; in 1813 Denmark-Norway went bankrupt.
The post-Napoleonic Congress of Vienna demanded the dissolution of the Dano-Norwegian union, and this was confirmed by the Treaty of Kiel in 1814. Denmark-Norway had briefly hoped to restore the Scandinavian union in 1809, but these hopes were dashed when the estates of Sweden rejected a proposal to let Frederick VI of Denmark succeed the deposed Gustav IV Adolf and instead gave the crown to Charles XIII. Norway entered a new union with Sweden which lasted until 1905. Denmark kept the colonies of Iceland, Faroe Islands and Greenland. Apart from the Nordic colonies, Denmark ruled over Danish India from 1620 to 1869, the Danish Gold Coast from 1658 to 1850, and the Danish West Indies from 1671 to 1917.
The Danish liberal and national movement gained momentum in the 1830s, and after the European Revolutions of 1848 Denmark peacefully became a constitutional monarchy on 5 June 1849. After the Second War of Schleswig (Danish: Slesvig) in 1864, Denmark was forced to cede Schleswig and Holstein to Prussia, in a defeat that left deep marks on the Danish national identity. After these events, Denmark returned to its traditional policy of neutrality, also keeping Denmark neutral in World War I.
[edit] 20th and 21st centuries
Denmark is a member of the European Union and in 1993 signed the Maastricht Treaty.
Following the defeat of Germany, the Versailles powers offered to return the region of Schleswig-Holstein to Denmark. Fearing German irredentism, Denmark refused to consider the return of the area and insisted on a plebiscite concerning the return of Schleswig. The two Schleswig Plebiscites took place on 10 February and 14 March 1920, respectively. On 10 July 1920 after the plebiscite and the king's signature (6 July) on the reunion document, King Christian X rode across the old border on a white horse, and Northern Schleswig (Sønderjylland) was recovered by Denmark, thereby adding 163,600 inhabitants and 3,984 km². The reunion day (Genforeningsdag) is celebrated every year on Valdemarsdag, 15 June.
Germany's invasion of Denmark on 9 April 1940—code named Operation Weserübung—met only two hours of military resistance before the Danish government surrendered. Economic co-operation between Germany and Denmark continued until 1943, when the Danish government refused further co-operation and its navy sank most of its ships and sent as many of their officers as they could to Sweden. During the war, the government was helpful towards the Danish Jewish minority, and the Danish resistance performed a rescue operation that managed to get most of them to Sweden and safety shortly before the Germans planned to round up the Danish Jews. Denmark led many "inside operations" or sabotage against the German facilities. Iceland severed ties to Denmark and became an independent republic, and in 1948, the Faroe Islands gained home rule.
After the war, Denmark became one of the founding members of the United Nations and NATO, and in 1973, along with Britain and Ireland, joined the European Economic Community (now the European Union) after a public referendum. The Maastricht treaty was ratified after a further referendum in 1993 and the subsequent addition of concessions for Denmark under the Edinburgh Agreement. Greenland gained home rule in 1979 and was awarded self-determination in 2009. Neither Greenland nor the Faroe Islands are members of the European Union, the Faroese declining membership in EEC from 1973 and Greenland from 1986, in both cases because of fisheries policies.
Despite its modest size, Denmark has been participating in major military and humanitarian operations, most notably the UN and NATO led operations on Cyprus, Bosnia, Korea, Egypt, Croatia, Kosovo, Ethiopia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia.
[edit] Geography
Main article: Geography of Denmark
Map of Denmark
Denmark shares a border of 68 kilometres with Germany to the south and is otherwise surrounded by 7,314 kilometres of coastline. It occupies 43,094 square kilometres. Since 2000 Denmark has been connected by the Øresund Bridge to southern Sweden.
Denmark's northernmost point is Skagens point (the north beach of the Skaw) at 57° 45' 7" northern latitude; the southernmost is Gedser point (the southern tip of Falster) at 54° 33' 35" northern latitude; the westernmost point is Blåvandshuk at 8° 4' 22" eastern longitude; and the easternmost point is Østerskær at 15° 11' 55" eastern longitude. This is in the archipelago Ertholmene 18 kilometres northeast of Bornholm. The distance from east to west is 452 kilometres (281 mi), from north to south 368 kilometres (229 mi).
Denmark consists of the peninsula of Jutland (Jylland) and 443 named islands (1,419 islands above 100 m² in total).[38] Of these, 72 are inhabited,[39] with the largest being Zealand (Sjælland) and Funen (Fyn). The island of Bornholm is located east of the rest of the country, in the Baltic Sea. Many of the larger islands are connected by bridges; the Øresund Bridge connects Zealand with Sweden; the Great Belt Bridge connects Funen with Zealand; and the Little Belt Bridge connects Jutland with Funen. Ferries or small aircraft connect to the smaller islands. Main cities are the capital Copenhagen on Zealand; Århus, Aalborg and Esbjerg in Jutland; and Odense on Funen.
Windmills and yellow brick houses accent the gently rolling meadowlands of Karlebo, in North Zealand
The country is flat with little elevation; having an average height above sea level of 31 metres (102 ft). The highest natural point is Møllehøj, at 170.86 metres (560.56 ft). Other hills in the same area southwest of Århus are Yding Skovhøj at 170.77 metres (560.27 ft) and Ejer Bavnehøj at 170.35 metres (558.89 ft).[40] The area of inland water is: (eastern Denmark) 210 km2 (81 sq mi); (western D.) 490 km2 (189 sq mi).
A forest burial ground in Yding Skovhøj, one of Denmark's highest points
Denmark's coastline is, 7,314 km (4,545 mi).[41] No location in Denmark is further from the coast than 52 km (32 mi). The size of the land area of Denmark cannot be stated exactly since the ocean constantly erodes and adds material to the coastline, and because of human land reclamation projects (to counter erosion). On the southwest coast of Jutland, the tide is between 1 and 2 m (3.28 and 6.56 ft), and the tideline moves outward and inward on a 10 km (6.2 mi) stretch.[42]
Phytogeographically, Denmark (including Greenland and the Faroe Islands) belongs to the Boreal Kingdom and is shared between the Arctic, Atlantic European and Central European provinces of the Circumboreal Region. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, the territory of Denmark can be subdivided into two ecoregions: the Atlantic mixed forests and Baltic mixed forests. The Faroe Islands are covered by the Faroe Islands boreal grasslands, while Greenland hosts the ecoregions of Kalaallit Nunaat high arctic tundra and Kalaallit Nunaat low arctic tundra.
[edit] Climate
Denmark seen from space
The climate is in the temperate zone. The winters are not particularly cold, with mean temperatures in January and February of 0.0 °C, and the summers are cool, with a mean temperature in August of 15.7 °C.[43] Denmark has an average of 121 days per year with precipitation, on average receiving a total of 712 mm per year; autumn is the wettest season and spring the driest.[43]
Grenen near Skagen, Denmark's northmost point
Because of Denmark's northern location, the length of the day with sunlight varies greatly. There are short days during the winter with sunrise coming around 9:00 a.m. and sunset 4:30 p.m., as well as long summer days with sunrise at 4:00 a.m. and sunset at 10 p.m.[44] The shortest and longest days of the year have traditionally been celebrated. The celebration for the shortest day corresponds roughly with Christmas (Danish: jul), and modern celebrations concentrate on Christmas Eve, 24 December. The Norse word jól is a plural, indicating that pre-Christian society celebrated a season with multiple feasts.[45] Christianity introduced the celebration of Christmas, resulting in the use of the Norse name also for the Christian celebration. Efforts by the Catholic Church to replace this name with kristmesse were unsuccessful. The celebration for the longest day is Midsummer Day, which is known in Denmark as sankthansaften (St. John's evening).[46] Celebrations of Midsummer have taken place since pre-Christian times.[47]
[edit] Environment
Denmark has historically taken a progressive stance on environmental preservation; in 1971 Denmark established a Ministry of Environment and was the first country in the world to implement an environmental law in 1973.
To mitigate environmental degradation and global warming the Danish Government has signed the following international agreements: Antarctic Treaty; Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol; Endangered Species Act [48] These agreements have helped in the reduction in CO2 emissions by Denmark.
Denmark was ranked as the 10th best country in the world for "Living Green" by a 2007 Readers Digest survey.,[49] and Copenhagen is recognised as one of the most environmentally friendly cities in the world.[50] Much of the city's success can be attributed to a strong municipal policy combined with a sound national policy, in 2006 Copenhagen Municipality received the European Environmental Management Award.[51] The award was given for long-term holistic environmental planning. Recently many of Denmarks smaller Municipalities such as Lolland and Bornholm have also become environmental leaders. Denmark is home to five of the world's ten largest central solar heating plants (CSHP). The world's largest CSHP is situated in the small community of Marstal on the island of Ærø.
Copenhagen is the spearhead of the bright green environmental movement in Denmark. In 2008, Copenhagen was mentioned by Clean Edge as one of the key cleantech clusters to watch in the book The Cleantech Revolution. The city is the focal point for more than half of Denmark's 700 cleantech companies and draws on some 46 research institutions. The cluster employs more than 60,000 people and is characterised by a close collaboration between universities, business, and governing institutions. The capital's most important cleantech research institutions are the University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Business School,[52] Risø DTU National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, and the Technical University of Denmark which Risø is now part of. Leading up to the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference the University of Copenhagen held the Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges and Decisions conference where the need for comprehensive action to mitigate climate change was stressed by the international scientific community. Notable figures such as Rajendra K. Pachauri, Chairman of the IPCC, Professor Nicholas Stern, author of the Stern Report, and Professor Daniel Kammen all emphasised the good example set by Copenhagen and Denmark in capitalising on cleantech and achieving economic growth while stabilising carbon emissions.
[edit] Denmark's GDP per emissions
Denmark's green house gas emissions per dollar of value produced has been for the most part unstable since 1990, seeing sudden growths and falls. Overall though, there has been a reduction in gas emissions per dollar value added to its market.[53] It is comparable to countries such as Germany,[54] but lagging behind other Scandinavian countries such as Norway[55] and Sweden.[56]
[edit] Government and politics
Main articles: Politics of Denmark and Government of Denmark
Denmark and its dependencies - Greenland, and the Faroe Islands
The royal family of Denmark
The Kingdom of Denmark is a constitutional monarchy. As stipulated in the Danish Constitution, the monarch is not answerable for their actions, and their person is sacrosanct. The monarch formally appoints and dismisses the prime minister and other ministers. The prime minister is customarily chosen through negotiation between the parliament party leaders.
Before being validated through royal assent, all bills and important government measures must be discussed in Statsrådet, a privy council headed by the monarch. The Danish privy council's protocols are secret. Although the monarch is formally given executive power this power is strictly ceremonial. The monarch is expected to be entirely apolitical and refrain from influencing the government. For example, members of the royal family do not cast their votes in elections and referendums even though they have the right.
Legislative authority is vested in the executive (Prime Minister) and the Danish parliament conjointly. Judicial authority lies with the courts of justice.
Executive authority is exercised on behalf of the monarch by the prime minister and other cabinet ministers who head departments. The cabinet, prime minister, and other ministers collectively make up the government. These ministers are responsible to Folketinget (the Danish Parliament), the legislative body, which is traditionally considered to be supreme (that is, able to legislate on any matter and not bound by decisions of its predecessors).
The Folketing is the national legislature. It has the ultimate legislative authority according to the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty, however questions over sovereignty have been brought forward because of Denmark’s entry into the European Union. In theory the doctrine prevails. Parliament consists of 175 members elected by proportional majority, plus two members each from Greenland and Faroe Islands. Parliamentary elections are held at least every four years, but it is within the powers of the prime minister to ask the monarch to call for an election before the term has elapsed. On a vote of no confidence, the parliament may force a single minister or the entire government to resign.
The Danish political system has traditionally generated coalitions. Most Danish post-war governments have been minority coalitions ruling with the support of non-government parties.[57]
Prime Minister of Denmark, Lars Løkke Rasmussen.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen from the Venstre party, a center-right liberal party was prime minister from November 2001 to April 2009. His government was a coalition consisting of Venstre and the Conservative People's Party, with parliamentary support from the right-wing Danish People's Party (Dansk Folkeparti). The three parties obtained a parliamentary majority in the 2001 election and maintained it virtually unchanged in the 2005 election. On October 24, 2007, an early election was called by the Prime Minister for 13 November. Following the election the Danish People's party was strengthened while Anders Fogh Rasmussen's Venstre lost 6 seats and the Conservative Party retained the same number of seats in Parliament as prior to the election. The result ensured that Anders Fogh Rasmussen could continue as prime minister for a third term.
From the autumn of 2008 rumours persisted that Anders Fogh Rasmussen aspired to head NATO. On April 4, 2009, during a NATO summit in Strasbourg, Rasmussen confirmed these speculations. Opposition within NATO, especially from Turkey, was overcome, and Rasmussen was appointed Secretary General of NATO.
On April 5, 2009, Rasmussen resigned, leaving minister of finance and vice president of Venstre Lars Løkke Rasmussen to be the new prime minister.
[edit] Regions and municipalities
Main articles: Regions of Denmark and Municipalities of Denmark
For the administrative divisions used until 2006, see Counties of Denmark.
Denmark is divided into five regions (Danish: regioner, singular: region) and a total of 98 municipalities. The regions were created on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish Municipal Reform to replace the country's traditional thirteen counties (amter). At the same time, smaller municipalities (kommuner) were merged into larger units, cutting the number of municipalities from 270 to 98. The most important area of responsibility for the new regions is the national health service. Unlike the former counties, the regions are not allowed to levy taxes, and the health service is primarily financed by a national 8% (sundhedsbidrag) tax combined with funds from both government and municipalities. Each Regional Council consists of 41 elected politicians elected as part of the 2005 Danish municipal elections.
Most of the new municipalities have a population of at least 20,000 people, although a few exceptions were made to this rule.
The Ertholmene archipelago (96 inhabitants (2008)) is neither part of a municipality nor a region but belongs to the Ministry of Defence.[58]
Greenland and the Faroe Islands have autonomous status and are largely self-governing; each are represented by two seats in the parliament.
Country↓ Population↓ Area
(km²)↓ Density
(pop per km²)↓
Denmark Denmark 5,540,241 43,094 129
Faroe Islands Faroe Islands 48,797 1,399 35
Greenland Greenland 57,564 2,175,600 0.026
Denmark Kingdom of Denmark 5,646,602 2,220,093 2.5
[edit] Economy
Main article: Economy of Denmark
Denmark's mixed economy features above average European living standards[59][60] and high amount of free trade. Denmark ranks 16th in the world in terms of GDP (PPP) per capita and ranks 5th in nominal GDP per capita.
According to World Bank Group, Denmark has the most flexible labour market in Europe; the policy is called flexicurity. It is easy to hire, fire, and find a job. Denmark has a labour force of about 2.9 million. Denmark has the fourth highest ratio of tertiary degree holders in the world.[61] GDP per hour worked was the 10th highest in 2007. Denmark has the world's lowest level of income inequality, according to the UN, and the world's highest minimum wage, according to the IMF. As of June 2009 the unemployment rate is at 6.3%, which is below the EU average of 8.9%.[62]
Denmark is one of the most competitive economies in the world according to World Economic Forum 2008 report, IMD, and The Economist.[63] According to rankings by OECD, Denmark has the most free financial markets in EU-15 and also one of the most free product markets.
Denmark has a company tax rate of 25% and a special time limited tax regime for expatriates.[64] The Danish taxation system is both broad based (25% VAT, not including excise, duty and tax) and has the world's highest income tax.
Denmark's national currency, the krone (plural: kroner), is de facto linked to the Euro through ERM.[65] The exchange rate is pegged at approx. 7.45 kroner per euro. The government has met the economic convergence criteria for participating in the third phase (the common European currency—the Euro) of the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union (EMU), but Denmark, in a September 2000 referendum, rejected The Monetary Union. The Government of Fogh Rasmussen, re-elected in November 2007, announced a new referendum on the euro for 2008 or 2009 at the latest.[66]
Denmark is known from the Danish cooperative movement within among others farming, the food industry (Danish Crown), dairy production (Arla Foods), retailing (Brugsen), wind turbine cooperatives, and co-housing associations.
Support for free trade is high—in a 2007 poll 76% responded that globalisation is a good thing.[67] 70% of trade flows are inside the European Union. Denmark has the 9th highest export per capita in the world. Main exports include: machinery, animals and foodstuff, chemicals and oil and gas.[68] Denmark is a net exporter of food and energy and has for a number of years had a balance of payments surplus while battling an equivalent of approximately 39% of GNP foreign debt or more than 300 billion DKK.[69] Also of importance is the sea territory of more than 105,000 km² (40,000+ sq mi).
Denmark has ranked as the world's 11th most free economy, of 162 countries, in an index created by the Wall Street Journal and Heritage Foundation, the Index of Economic Freedom 2008. The Index has been categorised as using inappropriately weighted indicators for economic freedom, leading to wealthy and/or conservative countries with barriers to trade placing high on the list, while poor and/or socialist countries with fewer restrictions on trade place low.[70] The Index has only a 10% statistical correlation with a standard measure of economic growth at GDP per capita.[71] Neither does the Index account for the actions of governments to nurture business[72] in the manner of the Japanese Zaibatsus during the late 20th century that helped lead to the Japanese economic miracle.
StatBank is the name of a large statistical database maintained by the central authority of statistics in Denmark. Online distribution of statistics has been a part of the dissemination strategy in Denmark since 1985. By this service, Denmark is a leading country in the world regarding electronic dissemination of statistics. There are about 2 million hits every year.
[edit] Energy
Offshore wind turbines near Copenhagen
See also: Nordic energy market, Coal power in Denmark, and Wind power in Denmark
Denmark has considerable sources of oil and natural gas in the North Sea and ranks as number 32 in the world among net exporters of crude oil.[73] Most electricity is produced from coal, but Denmark also has a share of windpower. Wind turbines produce 16–19% of electricity demand.[74] Denmark is connected by transmission lines to other European countries.
To encourage investment in wind power, families were offered a tax exemption for generating their own electricity within their own or an adjoining commune. While this could involve purchasing a turbine outright, more often families purchased shares in wind turbine cooperatives which in turn invested in community wind turbines. By 2004 over 150,000 Danes were either members of cooperatives or owned turbines, and about 5,500 turbines had been installed, although with greater private sector involvement the proportion owned by cooperatives had fallen to 75%.
Because of energy taxes, Denmark has the highest household electricity prices in the world,[75] while industries pay just below EU average.[74]
[edit] Transport
Main article: Transport in Denmark
Oresund Bridge from Denmark to Sweden. On the right is the artificial Peberholm island, and on the left Saltholm.
Significant investment has been made in building road and rail links between Copenhagen and Malmö, Sweden (the Øresund Bridge), and between Zealand and Funen (the Great Belt Fixed Link). The Copenhagen Malmö Port was also formed between the two cities as the common port for the cities of both nations.
The main railway operator is Danske Statsbaner (Danish State Railways) for passenger services and DB Schenker Rail for freight trains. The railway tracks are maintained by Banedanmark. Copenhagen has a small Metro system, and the greater Copenhagen area has an extensive electrified suburban railway network.
Denmark's national airline (together with Norway and Sweden) is Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), and Copenhagen Airport is the country's largest airport and also the biggest hub in Scandinavia.
A ferry link to the Faroe Islands is maintained by Smyril Line. Other international ferry services are mainly operated by DFDS (to Norway and the UK). Scandlines (to Germany and Sweden), Stena Line (to Norway and Sweden), Color Line (to Norway) and FjordLine (to Norway).
Private vehicles are increasingly used as a means of transportation. Because of the high registration tax (180%) and VAT (25%), and the world's highest income tax rate, new cars are very expensive. The purpose of the tax is to discourage car ownership. Whether a smaller fleet of aging cars is better than a larger fleet of modern cars is a matter for debate, however as the car fleet has increased by 45% over the last 30 years the effect of high taxation on the fleet size seems small.
In 2007, an attempt was made by the government to favour environmentally friendly cars by slightly reducing taxes on high mileage vehicles. However, this has had little effect, and in 2008 Denmark experienced an increase in the import of fuel inefficient old cars (mostly older than 10 years), primarily from Germany as their costs including taxes keeps these cars within the budget of many Danes.
Denmark is in a strong position in terms of integrating fluctuating and unpredictable energy sources such as wind power in the grid. It is this knowledge that Denmark now aims to exploit in the transport sector by focusing on intelligent battery systems (V2G) and plug-in vehicles.[76][77]
[edit] Public policy
See also: Nordic model and Flexicurity
After deregulating the labour market in the 1990s, Denmark has one of the most free labour markets in European countries. According to World Bank labour market rankings, the labour market flexibility is at the same levels as the United States. Around 80% of employees belong to unions and the unemployment funds that are attached to them, but the percentage is falling. Labor market policies is mainly determined in negotiations between the worker unions and employer unions, and the government only interferes if labour strikes extend for too long.
Despite the success of the labour unions, a growing number of people make contracts individually rather than collectively, and many (four out of ten employees) are contemplating dropping especially unemployment fund but occasionally even union membership altogether. The average employee receives a benefit at 47% of their wage level if they have to claim benefits when unemployed. With low unemployment, very few expect to be claiming benefits at all. The only reason then to pay the earmarked money to the unemployment fund would be to retire early and receive early retirement pay (efterløn), which is possible from the age of 60 provided an additional earmarked contribution is paid to the unemployment fund.[78]
The unemployment rate for December 2007 was 2.7%, for a total of 74,900 persons, a reduction by 112,800 persons—2,400 per month—or 60% since December 2003.[79] The Eurostat unemployment number for August 2008 is 2.9%. This has been achieved by employing more than 38% (800,000 people)[80] of the total workforce in public sector jobs. Another measure of the situation on the labour market is the employment rate, that is the percentage of people aged 15 to 64 in employment out of the total number of people aged 15 to 64. The employment rate for Denmark in 2007 was 77.1% according to Eurostat. Of all countries in the world, only Switzerland with 78.% and Iceland with 85.1% had a higher employment rate.
In December 2008, Statistics Denmark reported that 100,000 Danes were affected by unemployment in the third quarter of 2008. Of these, 62% received a job within two months, and 6% had been unemployed for two years or more.
The number of unemployed is forecast to be 65,000 in 2015. The number of people in the working age group, less disability pensioners etc., will grow by 10,000 to 2,860,000, and jobs by 70,000 to 2,790,000;[81] part time jobs are included.[82] Because of the present high demand and short supply of skilled labour, for instance for factory and service jobs, including hospital nurses and physicians, the annual average working hours have risen, especially compared with the economic downturn 1987–1993.[83] Increasingly, service workers of all kinds are in demand, i.e. in the postal services and as bus drivers, and academics.[84] In the fall of 2007, more than 250,000 foreigners are working in the country, of which 23,000 still reside in Germany or Sweden.[85] According to a sampling survey of over 14,000 enterprises from December 2007 to April 2008 39,000 jobs were not filled, a number much lower than earlier surveys, confirming a downturn in the economic cycle.[86]
The level of unemployment benefits is dependent on former employment (the maximum benefit is at 90% of the wage) and at times also on membership of an unemployment fund, which is almost always—but need not be—administered by a trade union, and the previous payment of contributions. However, the largest share of the financing is still carried by the central government and is financed by general taxation, and only to a minor degree from earmarked contributions. There is no taxation, however, on proceeds gained from selling one´s home (provided there was any home equity (da:friværdi)), as the marginal tax rate on capital income from housing savings is around 0 percent.[87]
The Danish welfare model is accompanied by a taxation system that is both broad based (25% VAT, not including excise, duty and tax) and with a progressive income tax model, meaning the more money that is earned, the higher income tax percentage that gets paid (minimum tax rate for adults is 42% scaling to over 60%, except for the residents of Ertholmene that escape the otherwise ubiquitous 8% healthcare tax fraction of the income taxes[88][89]). Other taxes include the registration tax on private vehicles, at a rate of 180%, on top of VAT. Lately (July, 2007) this has been changed slightly in an attempt to favour more fuel efficient cars but maintaining the average taxation level more or less unchanged.[90]
[edit] Demographics
Main articles: Demographics of Denmark and Languages of Denmark
According to figures from Statistics Denmark, in 2009, 90.5% of Denmark’s population of over 5.4 million was of Danish descent.[1] Many of the remaining 9.5% were immigrants, or descendants of recent immigrants, from Bosnia, neighbouring countries, South Asia and Western Asia, many having arrived since an "Alien law" (Udlændingeloven) was enacted in 1983 allowing the immigration of family members of those who had already arrived. There are also small groups of Inuit from Greenland and Faroese. During recent years, anti-mass immigration sentiment has resulted in some of the toughest immigration laws in the European Union.[91][92] Nevertheless, the number of residence permits granted related to labour and to people from within the EU/EEA has increased since implementation of new immigration laws in 2001. However, the number of immigrants allowed into Denmark for family reunification decreased 70% between 2001 and 2006 to 4,198. During the same period the number of asylum permits granted has decreased by 82.5% to 1,095, reflecting a 84% decrease in asylum seekers to 1,960.[93]
Denmark’s population is 5,475,791, giving Denmark a population density of 129.16 inhabitants per km2 (334.53 inh/sq mi).[94] As in most countries, the population is not distributed evenly. Although the land area east of the Great Belt only makes up 9,622 km² (3,715 sq mi), 22.7% of Denmark's land area, it has 45% (2,465,348) of the population. The average population density of this area is 256.2 inhabitants per km² (663.6 per sq mi). The average density in the west of the country (32,772 km²/12,653 sq mi) is 91.86/km² (237.91 per sq mi) (3,010,443 people) (2008).
The median age is 39.8 years with 0.98 males per female. 98.2% of the population is literate (age 15 and up). The birth rate is 1.74 children born per woman (2006 est.), which will be reflected in a drop in the ratio of workers to pensioners. Despite the low birth rate, the population is still growing at an average annual rate of 0.33%.[48] International studies show that the population of Denmark is the happiest of any country in the world.[95]
Danish is the official language and is spoken throughout the country. English and German are the most widely spoken foreign languages.
A total of 1,516,126 Americans reported Danish ancestry in the 2006 American Community Survey.[96] According to the 2006 Census, there were 200,035 Canadians with Danish background.[97]
[edit] Religion
Main article: Religion in Denmark
Church of Denmark
year population members percentage
1984 5,113,500 4,684,060 91.6%
1990 5,135,409 4,584,450 89.3%
2000 5,330,500 4,536,422 85.1%
2005 5,413,600 4,498,703 83.3%
2007 5,447,100 4,499,343 82.6%
2008 5,475,791 4,494,589 82.1%
2009 5,511,451 4,492,121 81.5%
2010 5,534,738 4,479,214 80.9%
statistical data 1984–2002,[98] 1990–2009[99] and 2010[100] Source Kirkeministeriet
According to official statistics from January 2010, 80.9%[101] of the population of Denmark are members of the Lutheran state church, the Danish National Church (Den Danske Folkekirke) down 0.6% compared to the year earlier and 1.2% down compared to two years earlier, which is the state religion established by the Constitution. According to article 6 of the Constitution, the Royal Family must belong to this Church, though the rest of the population is free to adhere to other faiths. About 15% of the Danes do not belong to any denomination.
Denmark's Muslims make up less than 4% of the population and is the country's second largest religious community. As per an overview of various religions / denominations given by the Danish foreign Ministry other groups are less than 1% individually and all added up around 2% totally.[102]
According to the most recent Eurobarometer Poll 2005,[103] 31% of Danish citizens responded that "they believe there is a god", whereas 49% answered that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force" and 19% that "they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, god, or life force". According to a 2005 study by Zuckerman, Denmark has the third highest proportion of atheists and agnostics in the world, estimated to be between 43% and 80%.[104][105]
For more than a hundred years after the Reformation, Lutheranism was the only legal religion in Denmark, but in 1682 the state recognised three other faiths: Roman Catholicism, the Reformed Church, and Judaism. Until the recent immigration of Muslims, these three were practically the only non-Lutheran religions practiced in Denmark.
Forn Siðr (English: The Old Way), based on the much older, native religion, is one of the most recently recognised by the state, gaining official recognition in November 2003.[106]
Religious societies and churches do not need to be state-recognised in Denmark and can be granted the right to perform weddings and other ceremonies without this recognition.
[edit] Education
Main article: Education in Denmark
Rundetårn (Round Tower), an old observatory in the University of Copenhagen, Denmark's oldest and largest university
The Danish education system provides access to primary school, secondary school, and most kinds of higher education. Attendance at "Folkeskole" or equivalent education is compulsory for a minimum of 9 years. Equivalent education could be in private schools or classes attended at home. About 99% of students attend elementary school, 86% attend secondary school, and 41% pursue further education. All college education in Denmark is free; there are no tuition fees to enroll in courses. Students in secondary school or higher may apply for Student Support which provides fixed financial support, disbursed monthly.
Primary school in Denmark is called "den Danske Folkeskole" ("Danish Public School"). It runs from the introductory "kindergarten class"/0'th grade ("børnehaveklasse"/ "0. Klasse") to 10th grade, though 10th grade is optional. Students can alternatively attend "free schools" ("Friskole"), or private schools ("Privatskole"), i.e. schools that are not under the administration of the municipalities, such as christian schools or Waldorf Schools. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, ranked Denmark's education as the 24th best in the world in 2006, being neither significantly higher nor lower than the OECD average.[107]
Following graduation from Folkeskolen, there are several other educational opportunities, including Gymnasium (academically oriented upper secondary education), Higher Preparatory Examination (HF) (similar to Gymnasium, but one year shorter), Higher Technical Examination Programme (HTX) (with focus on Mathematics and engineering), and Higher Commercial Examination Programme (HHX) (with a focus on trade and business), as well as vocational education, training young people for work in specific trades by a combination of teaching and apprenticeship.
Gymnasium, HF, HTX and HHX aim at qualifying students for higher education in universities and colleges.
Denmark has several universities; the largest and oldest are the University of Copenhagen (founded 1479) and University of Aarhus (founded 1928).
Folkehøjskolerne, ("Folk high schools") introduced by politician, clergyman and poet N.F.S. Grundtvig in the 19th century, are social, informal education structures without tests or grades but emphasising communal learning, self-discovery, enlightenment, and learning how to think.[108]
[edit] Culture
Main article: Culture of Denmark
See also: List of Danes
Ærøskøbing, a traditional Danish village
Hans Christian Andersen is known beyond Denmark for his fairy tales, such as The Emperor's New Clothes, The Little Mermaid, and The Ugly Duckling. Karen Blixen (pen name: Isak Dinesen), Nobel laureate author Henrik Pontoppidan, Nobel laureate physicist Niels Bohr, comedic pianist Victor Borge and philosopher Søren Kierkegaard have also made a name for themselves outside Denmark.
Copenhagen is home to many famous sites and attractions, including Tivoli Gardens, Amalienborg Palace (home of the Danish monarchy), Christiansborg Pa
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Denmark
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Denmark
Danmark
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: none
(Royal motto: Guds hjælp, Folkets kærlighed, Danmarks styrke
"God's Help, the People's Love, Denmark's Strength")
Anthem: Der er et yndigt land (national)
Royal anthem: Kong Christian stod ved højen mast (royal and national)
Location of Denmark (dark green)– on the European continent (light green & dark grey)– in the European Union (light green) — [Legend]
Location of Denmark (dark green)
– on the European continent (light green & dark grey)
– in the European Union (light green) — [Legend]
Capital
(and largest city) Copenhagen
55°43′N 12°34′E / 55.717°N 12.567°E / 55.717; 12.567
Official language(s) Danish1
Ethnic groups 90.1% Danish
9.9% other (2010)[1]
Demonym Danish or Dane(s)
Government Parliamentary democracy and Constitutional monarchy
- Queen Margrethe II
- Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen
- Folketing Speaker Thor Pedersen
- Current coalition VK Coalition
Consolidation 8th century
EU accession 1 January 1973 (7th)
Area
- Total 43,098.31 km2 (134th²)
16,640 sq mi
- Water (%) 1.64²
Population
- 1 April 2010 estimate 5,540,241 (108th)
- Density 127.9/km2 (78th²)
331.2/sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2009 estimate
- Total $197.058 billion[2]
- Per capita US$35,757[2]
GDP (nominal) 2009 estimate
- Total US$309.252 billion[2]
- Per capita US$56,115[2]
Gini (2009) 24.7 (low) (1st)
HDI (2007) ▲ 0.955[3] (very high) (16th)
Currency Danish krone (DKK)
Time zone CET² (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST) CEST² (UTC+2)
Drives on the right
Internet TLD .dk2,3
Calling code 454
1 Co-official with Faroese in the Faroe Islands. German is recognised as a protected minority language in the South Jutland (Sønderjylland) area of Denmark. Danish is recognised as a protected minority language in the Schleswig-Holstein region of Germany.
² For Denmark excluding the Faroe Islands and Greenland.
³ The TLD .eu is shared with other European Union countries.
4 The Faroe Islands use +298 and Greenland uses +299.
Denmark (pronounced /ˈdɛnmɑrk/ ( listen); Danish: Danmark, pronounced [ˈd̥ænmɑɡ̊], archaic: [ˈd̥anmɑːɡ̊]) is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea. The country consists of a large peninsula, Jutland (Jylland) and many islands, most notably Zealand (Sjælland), Funen (Fyn), Vendsyssel-Thy, Lolland, Falster and Bornholm, as well as hundreds of minor islands often referred to as the Danish Archipelago. Denmark has long controlled the approach to the Baltic Sea; before the digging of the Kiel Canal, water passage to the Baltic sea was possible only through the three channels known as the "Danish straits".
Denmark is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of government. Denmark has a state-level government and local governments in 98 municipalities. Denmark has been a member of the European Union since 1973, although it has not joined the Eurozone. Denmark is a founding member of NATO and the OECD. Denmark is also a member of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
Denmark, with a mixed market capitalist economy and a large welfare state,[4] ranks as having the world's highest level of income equality. Denmark has the best business climate in the world, according to the U.S. business magazine Forbes.[5] From 2006 to 2008, surveys[6] ranked Denmark as "the happiest place in the world", based on standards of health, welfare, and education. The 2009 Global Peace Index survey ranks Denmark as the second most peaceful country in the world, after New Zealand.[7] In 2009, Denmark was ranked as one of the least corrupt countries in the world according to the Corruption Perceptions Index, ranking second only to New Zealand.[8]
The national language, Danish, is close to Swedish and Norwegian, with which it shares strong cultural and historical ties. 82% of the inhabitants of Denmark and 90.3% of the ethnic Danes are members of the Lutheran state church. As of 2009, 526,000 persons (9.5% of the Danish population) were either immigrants or descendants of recent immigrants. Most of these (54%) have their origins in Scandinavia or elsewhere in Europe, while the remainder originate mainly from Middle Eastern and African countries.
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Etymology
o 1.1 Mythological explanations
o 1.2 Earliest occurrences
* 2 History
o 2.1 Prehistory
o 2.2 Viking Age
o 2.3 Medieval Denmark
o 2.4 Kalmar Union
o 2.5 Protestant Reformation
o 2.6 Modern history
o 2.7 20th and 21st centuries
* 3 Geography
o 3.1 Climate
* 4 Environment
o 4.1 Denmark's GDP per emissions
* 5 Government and politics
* 6 Regions and municipalities
* 7 Economy
o 7.1 Energy
o 7.2 Transport
o 7.3 Public policy
* 8 Demographics
o 8.1 Religion
* 9 Education
* 10 Culture
o 10.1 Cinema
o 10.2 Literature
o 10.3 Sports
o 10.4 Music
o 10.5 Food
* 11 Military
* 12 International rankings
* 13 Notes
* 14 References
* 15 External links
[edit] Etymology
The etymology of the word Denmark, and especially the relationship between Danes and Denmark and the unifying of Denmark as a single Kingdom, is a subject which attracts some debate.[9][10] The debate is centred primarily around the prefix 'Dan' and whether it refers to the Dani or a historical person Dan and the exact meaning of the -mark ending. The issue is further complicated by a number of references to various Dani people in Scandinavia or other places in Europe in ancient Greek and Roman accounts (like Ptolemy, Jordanes, and Gregory of Tours), as well as some mediaeval literature (like Adam of Bremen, Beowulf, Widsith, and Poetic Edda).
Most handbooks derive[11] the first part of the word, and the name of the people, from a word meaning "flat land", related to German Tenne "threshing floor", English den "cave", Sanskrit dhánuṣ- (धनुस्; "desert"). The -mark is believed to mean woodland or borderland (see marches), with probable references to the border forests in south Schleswig,[12] maybe similar to Finnmark, Telemark, or Dithmarschen.[13]
In Norse, the land was called Danmǫrk.
[edit] Mythological explanations
Some of the earliest descriptions of the origin of the word 'Denmark', describing a territory, are found in the Chronicon Lethrense (12th century), Svend Aagesen (late 12th century), Saxo Grammaticus (early 13th century), and the Ballad of Eric (mid 15th century). There are, however, many more Danish annuals and yearbooks containing various other details, similar tales in other variations, other names or spelling variations.
The Chronicon Lethrense explains that when the Roman Emperor Augustus went against Denmark in the time of David,[14] Denmark consisted of seven territories Jutland, Funen, Zealand, Møn, Falster, Lolland and Skåne which were governed by King Ypper of Uppsala. He had three sons, Nori, Østen, and Dan. Dan was sent to govern Zealand, Møn, Falster, and Lolland, which became known jointly as Videslev. When the Jutes were fighting Emperor Augustus they called upon Dan to help them. Upon victory, they made him king of Jutland, Funen, Videslev, and Skåne. A council decided to call this new united land Danmark (Dania) (English: Denmark) after their new king, Dan. Saxo relates that it is the legendary Danish King Dan, son of Humbli, who gave the name to the Danish people, though he does not expressly state that he is also the origin of the word "Denmark". Rather he tells that England ultimately derives its name from Dan’s brother Angel.
[edit] Earliest occurrences
The Jelling Stones, commonly referred to as Denmark's "birth certificate", seen from the north with "Gorm's Mound" in the background
The earliest mention of a territory called "Denmark" is found in King Alfred the Great's modified translation into Old English of Paulus Orosius' Seven Books of History Against The Pagans ("Historiarum adversum Paganos Libri Septem"), written by Alfred when king of Wessex in the years 871–899. In a passage introduced to the text by Alfred, we read about Ohthere of Hålogaland’s travels in the Nordic region, during which 'Denmark [Denamearc] was on his port side... And then for two days he had on his [port side] the islands which belong to Denmark'.[15]
The first recorded use of the word "Denmark" within Denmark itself is found on the two Jelling stones, which are rune stones believed to have been erected by Gorm the Old (c. 955) and Harald Bluetooth (c. 965). The larger stone of the two is often cited as Denmark's birth certificate, though both use the word "Denmark", in the form of accusative "tanmaurk" (Danish pronunciation: [danmɒrk]) on the large stone, and genitive "tanmarkar" (pronounced [danmarkaɽ]) on the small stone.[16] The inhabitants of Denmark are there called "tani" ([danɪ]), or "Danes", in the accusative.
In The Song of Roland, estimated to have been written between 1040 and 1115, the first mention of the legendary Danish hero Holger Danske appears; he is mentioned several times as "Holger of Denmark" (Ogier de Denemarche).
[edit] History
Main article: History of Denmark
Hankehøj, by Johan Lundbye. A Danish down. Note the glacial character of the terrain and the burial mound of an early chief in the centre.
[edit] Prehistory
The earliest archaeological findings in Denmark date back to the Eem interglacial period from 130,000-110,000 BC.[17] Denmark has been inhabited since around 12,500 BC and agriculture has been evident since 3,900 BC.[18] The Nordic Bronze Age (1,800–600 BC) in Denmark was marked by burial mounds, which left an abundance of findings including lurs and the Sun Chariot.
During the Pre-Roman Iron Age (500 BC – 1 AD), native groups began migrating south, although[18] the first Danish people came to the country between the Pre-Roman and the Germanic Iron Age,[19] in the Roman Iron Age (1–400 AD). The Roman provinces maintained trade routes and relations with native tribes in Denmark, and Roman coins have been found in Denmark. Evidence of strong Celtic cultural influence dates from this period in Denmark and much of northwest Europe and is among other things reflected in the finding of the Gundestrup cauldron.
The gilded side of the Trundholm sun chariot
Historians believe that before the arrival of the precursors to the Danes, who came from the east Danish islands (Zealand) and Skåne and spoke an early form of north Germanic, most of Jutland and some islands were settled by Jutes. They were later invited to Great Britain as mercenaries by Brythonic King Vortigern and were granted the south-eastern territories of Kent, the Isle of Wight, among other areas, where they settled. They were later absorbed or ethnically cleansed by the invading Angles and Saxons, who formed the Anglo-Saxons. The remaining population in Jutland assimilated in with the Danes.
A short note[20] about the Dani in "Getica" by historian Jordanes is believed by some to be an early mention of the Danes,[21] one of the ethnic groups from whom the modern Danish people are descended. The Danevirke defence structures were built in phases from the 3rd century forward,[22] and the sheer size of the construction efforts in 737 are attributed to the emergence of a Danish king.[22] The new runic alphabet was first used around the same time, and Ribe, the oldest town of Denmark, was founded about 700.
[edit] Viking Age
Main article: Viking Age
The Ladby ship, the largest ship burial found in Denmark
The Danish people were amongst those known as the Vikings during the 8th-11th centuries. Viking explorers first discovered and settled in Iceland in the 9th century, on their way from the Faroe Islands. From there, Greenland and Vinland (probably Newfoundland) were also settled. Utilising their great skills in shipbuilding they raided and conquered parts of France and the British Isles. But they also excelled in trading along the coasts and rivers of Europe, running trade routes from Greenland in the north to Constantinople in the south via Russian rivers. The Danish Vikings were most active in Britain, Ireland and France, and they raided, conquered and settled parts of England (their earliest settlements included sites in the Danelaw, Ireland, and Normandy).
In the early 9th century, Charlemagne's Christian empire had expanded to the southern border of the Danes, and Frankish sources (e.g. Notker of St Gall) provide the earliest historical evidence of the Danes. These report a King Gudfred, who appeared in present day Holstein with a navy in 804 where diplomacy took place with the Franks; In 808, King Gudfred attacked the Obotrite and conquered the city of Reric whose population was displaced or abducted to Hedeby. In 809, King Godfred and emissaries of Charlemagne failed to negotiate peace, and the next year King Godfred attacked the Frisians with 200 ships.
The oldest parts of the defensive works of Danevirke near Hedeby at least date from the summer of 755 and were expanded with large works in the 10th century. The size and amount of troops needed to man it indicates a quite powerful ruler in the area, which might be consistent with the kings of the Frankish sources. In 815 AD, Emperor Louis the Pious attacked Jutland apparently in support of a contender to the throne, perhaps Harald Klak, but was turned back by the sons of Godfred, who most likely were the sons of the above mentioned Godfred. At the same time Saint Ansgar travelled to Hedeby and started the Catholic Christianization of Scandinavia.
Map showing Danevirke and Hærvejen
The Danes were united and officially Christianised in 965 AD by Harald Blåtand, the story of which is recorded on the Jelling stones. The extent of Harald's Danish Kingdom is unknown, although it is reasonable to believe that it stretched from the defensive line of Dannevirke, including the Viking city of Hedeby, across Jutland, the Danish isles and into southern present day Sweden; Scania and perhaps Halland and Blekinge. Furthermore, the Jelling stones attest that Harald had also "won" Norway. In retaliation for the St. Brice's Day massacre of Danes in England, the son of Harald, Sweyn Forkbeard mounted a series of wars of conquest against England, which was completed by Svend's son Canute the Great by the middle of the 11th century.[23]
Following the death of Canute the Great, Denmark and England were divided. Sweyn Estridsen's son, Canute IV, raided England for the last time in 1085. He planned another invasion to take the throne of England from an aging William I. He called up a fleet of 1,000 Danish ships, 60 Norwegian long boats, with plans to meet with another 600 ships under Duke Robert of Flanders in the summer of 1086. Canute, however, was beginning to realise that the imposition of the tithe on Danish peasants and nobles to fund the expansion of monasteries and churches and a new head tax (Danish:nefgjald) had brought his people to the verge of rebellion. Canute took weeks to arrive at Struer where the fleet had assembled, but he found only the Norwegians still there.
Canute thanked the Norwegians for their patience and then went from assembly to assembly (Danish:landsting) outlawing any sailor, captain, or soldier who refused to pay a fine which amounted to more than a years harvest for most farmers. Canute and his housecarls fled south with a growing army of rebels on his heels. Canute fled to the royal property outside the town of Odense on Funen with his two brothers. After several attempts to break in and then bloody hand to hand fighting in the church, Benedict was cut down and Canute struck in the head by a large stone and then speared from the front. He died at the base of the main altar 10 July 1086, where he was buried by the Benedictines. When Queen Edele came to take Canute's body to Flanders, a light allegedly shone around the church and it was taken as a sign that Canute should remain where he was.
The death of St. Canute marks the end of the Viking Age. Never again would massive flotillas of Scandinavians meet each year to ravage the rest of Christian Europe.
[edit] Medieval Denmark
From the Viking age towards the end of the 13th century, the kingdom of Denmark consisted of Jutland, north from the Eider River and the islands of Zealand, Funen, Bornholm, Skåne, Halland and Blekinge. The lands between the Eider and the Kongeåen were separated from the kingdom as two vassal duchies of Schleswig and Holstein.
Following the end of the 11th century, Denmark underwent a transition from a patchwork of regional chiefs (Danish:jarls) with a weak and semi-elected royal institution, into a realm which more reflected European feudalism, with a powerful king ruling through an influential nobility. The period is marked by internal strife and the generally weak geopolitical position of the realm, which for long stretches fell under German influence. The period also featured the first of large stone buildings (mostly churches), a deep penetration by the Christian religion, the appearance of monastic orders in Denmark and the first written historical works such as the Gesta Danorum ("Deeds of the Danes"). German political as well as religious influence firmly ended in the last decades of the 12th century under the rule of King Valdemar the Great and his foster brother Absalon Hvide, Archbishop of Lund; through successful wars against Wend peoples of northeast Germany and the Holy Roman Empire.
The tomb of Margrethe I in Roskilde Cathedral
A high point was reached during the reign of Valdemar II, who led the formation of a Danish "Baltic Sea Empire", which by 1221 extended control from Estonia in the east to Norway in the north. In this period several of the "regional" law codes were given; notably the Code of Jutland from 1241, which asserted several modern concepts like right of property; "that the king cannot rule without and beyond the law"; "and that all men are equal to the law". Following the death of Valdemar II in 1241 and to the ascension of Valdemar IV in 1340, the kingdom was in general decline because of internal strife and the rise of the Hanseatic League. The competition between the sons of Valdemar II had the longterm result that the southern parts of Jutland were separated from the kingdom of Denmark and became semi-independent vassal duchies/counties.
[edit] Kalmar Union
During the reign of Valdemar IV and his daughter Margrethe I, the realm was re-invigorated; following the Battle of Falköping, Margrethe I had her sister's son, Eric of Pomerania crowned King of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden after the signing of the union charter of Kalmar, Trinity Sunday 1397.[24] United under a single crown it was thought that the new kingdom would create a great power in the north.[25] The three countries were to be treated as equals in the union. However, even from the start Margrethe of Denmark may not have been so idealistic—treating Denmark as the clear "senior" partner of the union.[25] Thus, much of the next 125 years of Scandinavian history revolves around this union, with Sweden breaking off and being re-conquered repeatedly. The issue was for practical purposes resolved on 17 June 1523, as Swedish King Gustav Vasa conquered the city of Stockholm. Denmark and Norway, however, remained in a personal union until the Congress of Vienna in 1814.
[edit] Protestant Reformation
Main article: Reformation in Denmark-Norway and Holstein
The Protestant Reformation came to Scandinavia in 1520s. On Easter Sunday 1525, Hans Tausen, a monk in the Order of St John's Hospitalers, proclaimed aloud the need for Martin Luther's reforms in the Catholic Church. His sermon was the beginning of a ten year struggle which would change Denmark forever. Tausen was hustled off to a monastery in Viborg in northern Jutland where he would be isolated and away from Copenhagen and the court. Tausen simply preached through the window of his locked chamber. At first curious Danes came to hear the strange new ideas that Tausen was preaching. Within weeks Tausen was freed by his loyal followers, and then a Franciscan abbey church was broken open so Viborgers could hear God's word under a roof. Luther's ideas were accepted so rapidly that the local bishop and other churchmen in Viborg were unable to cope. In many churches the mass was celebrated alongside Lutheran sermons, and then Tausen's version of Luther's teachings began to spread to other parts of Jutland. Within a year Tausen was the personal chaplain of King Frederik I. Frederik tried to balance the old and new ideas insisting that they coexist; it lasted only as long as Frederik did.
A mob stormed Our Lady Church in Copenhagen in 1531 tearing down statues, destroying side altars, artwork, and relics that had accumulated through its long history. Similar events happened through the country, although for the most part the change was peaceful. The majority of common people saw the reduced influence and wealth of the church as a liberating thing, but their new found influence did not last long.
At the death of Frederick I in 1533, two claimants to the throne—one backed by Protestant Lũbeck and the other by Catholic nobles—caused a civil war known as the Count's Feud (Danish: Grevens Fejde) (1534–1536).[26] The massacre of Skipper Clement's peasant army at Aalborg in December 1534 brought an end to the war and left the pro-Lutheran party firmly in charge.[27] Denmark became officially Lutheran in 1536. Denmark's Catholic bishops were arrested and imprisoned. Abbeys, nunneries, monasteries, and other church properties were confiscated by local nobility and the crown. Monks, nuns, and clergy lost their livelihood. The bishops who agreed to marry and not stir up trouble were given former church lands as personal estates.[28]
Catholic influence remained longest in Viborg and the nearby area, where change permeated slowly, although the reformation originally began there.[29]
[edit] Modern history
For most of its history the attention of Denmark had been directed to the south. The Germans in the form of either the Hanseatic League or in the form of the rebellious minority population of the province of Slesvig had been demanding all the attention of the Danish Kingdom for centuries. However, by 1500, the Hanseatic League was in considerable decline.[30] The rise of the Dutch nation as a sea power and its unrestricted trade with Scandinavia broke the monopoly of the Hansa.[31] By 1614, 60% of all shipping passing through the sound between Denmark and Sweden was Dutch shipping.[32] The problem of Slesvig was not so much resolved as it was over-shadowed by a larger problem, the rising power of Sweden.[33]
Indeed, the religious Peace of Augsburg in 1555 served as a watershed in the history of Denmark.[34] Instead of looking south to Germany as a threat, Denmark began to look to the north—toward Sweden as a worse threat. Like Denmark, most of northern Germany began to be deeply concerned about the military threat posed by a strong Sweden. Thus, the various German states began to worry less about supporting the German minority population in Slesvig and began to concentrate on the Swedish threat. Accordingly, Denmark was free to turn her attentions to Sweden as well.
After Sweden permanently broke away from the Kalmar Union in 1523, Denmark tried on two occasions to reassert control over Sweden. The first was in the Northern Seven Years War which lasted from 1563 until 1570. The second occasion was the Kalmar War when King Christian IV attacked Sweden in 1611 but failed to accomplish his main objective of forcing Sweden to return to the union with Denmark. The war led to no territorial changes, but Sweden was forced to pay a war indemnity of 1 million silver riksdaler to Denmark, an amount known as the Älvsborg ransom.[35]
King Christian used this money to found several towns and fortresses, most notably Glückstadt (founded as a rival to Hamburg), Christiania (following a fire destroying the original city of Oslo), Christianshavn, Christianstad, and Christiansand. Christian also constructed a number of buildings, most notably Børsen, Rundetårn, Nyboder, Rosenborg, a silver mine and a copper mill. Inspired by the Dutch East India Company, he founded a similar Danish company and planned to claim Sri Lanka as a colony, but the company only managed to acquire Tranquebar on India's Coromandel Coast.
In the Thirty Year's War, Christian tried to become the leader of the Lutheran states in Germany but suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of Lutter.[36] The result was that the Catholic army under Albrecht von Wallenstein was able to invade, occupy and pillage Jutland,[37] forcing Denmark to withdraw from the war. Denmark managed to avoid territorial concessions, but Gustavus Adolphus' intervention in Germany was seen as a sign that the military power of Sweden was on the rise while Denmark's influence in the region was declining. Swedish armies invaded Jutland in 1643 and claimed Skåne in 1644.
In the 1645 Treaty of Brømsebro, Denmark surrendered Halland, Gotland, the last parts of Danish Estonia, and several provinces in Norway. In 1657, King Frederick III declared war on Sweden and marched on Bremen-Verden. This led to a massive Danish defeat, and the armies of King Charles X Gustav of Sweden conquered Jutland, Funen, and much of Zealand before signing the Peace of Roskilde in February 1658 which gave Sweden control of Skåne, Blekinge, Trøndelag and the island of Bornholm. Charles X Gustav quickly regretted not having destroyed Denmark completely; in August 1658 he began a two-year long siege of Copenhagen but failed to take the capital. In the following peace settlement, Denmark managed to maintain its independence and regain control of Trøndelag and Bornholm.
Den Grundlovsgivende Rigsforsamling (The Constitutional Assembly. The Assembly created The Danish constitution), 1860–1864 painting by Constantin Hansen
Denmark tried to regain control of Scania in the Scanian War (1675–79), but it ended in failure. Following the Great Northern War (1700–21), Denmark managed to restore control of the parts of Schleswig and Holstein ruled by the house of Holstein-Gottorp in 1721 and 1773, respectively. Denmark prospered greatly in the last decades of the 18th century because its neutral status allowed it to trade with both sides in the many contemporary wars. In the Napoleonic Wars, Denmark originally tried to pursue a policy of neutrality to continue the lucrative trade with both France and the United Kingdom and joined the League of Armed Neutrality with Russian Empire, Sweden, and Kingdom of Prussia.
The British considered this a hostile act and attacked Copenhagen in both 1801 and 1807, in one case carrying off the Danish fleet and burning large parts of the Danish capital. These events mark the end of the prosperous Florissant Age and resulted in the Dano-British Gunboat War. British control over the waterways between Denmark and Norway proved disastrous to the union's economy; in 1813 Denmark-Norway went bankrupt.
The post-Napoleonic Congress of Vienna demanded the dissolution of the Dano-Norwegian union, and this was confirmed by the Treaty of Kiel in 1814. Denmark-Norway had briefly hoped to restore the Scandinavian union in 1809, but these hopes were dashed when the estates of Sweden rejected a proposal to let Frederick VI of Denmark succeed the deposed Gustav IV Adolf and instead gave the crown to Charles XIII. Norway entered a new union with Sweden which lasted until 1905. Denmark kept the colonies of Iceland, Faroe Islands and Greenland. Apart from the Nordic colonies, Denmark ruled over Danish India from 1620 to 1869, the Danish Gold Coast from 1658 to 1850, and the Danish West Indies from 1671 to 1917.
The Danish liberal and national movement gained momentum in the 1830s, and after the European Revolutions of 1848 Denmark peacefully became a constitutional monarchy on 5 June 1849. After the Second War of Schleswig (Danish: Slesvig) in 1864, Denmark was forced to cede Schleswig and Holstein to Prussia, in a defeat that left deep marks on the Danish national identity. After these events, Denmark returned to its traditional policy of neutrality, also keeping Denmark neutral in World War I.
[edit] 20th and 21st centuries
Denmark is a member of the European Union and in 1993 signed the Maastricht Treaty.
Following the defeat of Germany, the Versailles powers offered to return the region of Schleswig-Holstein to Denmark. Fearing German irredentism, Denmark refused to consider the return of the area and insisted on a plebiscite concerning the return of Schleswig. The two Schleswig Plebiscites took place on 10 February and 14 March 1920, respectively. On 10 July 1920 after the plebiscite and the king's signature (6 July) on the reunion document, King Christian X rode across the old border on a white horse, and Northern Schleswig (Sønderjylland) was recovered by Denmark, thereby adding 163,600 inhabitants and 3,984 km². The reunion day (Genforeningsdag) is celebrated every year on Valdemarsdag, 15 June.
Germany's invasion of Denmark on 9 April 1940—code named Operation Weserübung—met only two hours of military resistance before the Danish government surrendered. Economic co-operation between Germany and Denmark continued until 1943, when the Danish government refused further co-operation and its navy sank most of its ships and sent as many of their officers as they could to Sweden. During the war, the government was helpful towards the Danish Jewish minority, and the Danish resistance performed a rescue operation that managed to get most of them to Sweden and safety shortly before the Germans planned to round up the Danish Jews. Denmark led many "inside operations" or sabotage against the German facilities. Iceland severed ties to Denmark and became an independent republic, and in 1948, the Faroe Islands gained home rule.
After the war, Denmark became one of the founding members of the United Nations and NATO, and in 1973, along with Britain and Ireland, joined the European Economic Community (now the European Union) after a public referendum. The Maastricht treaty was ratified after a further referendum in 1993 and the subsequent addition of concessions for Denmark under the Edinburgh Agreement. Greenland gained home rule in 1979 and was awarded self-determination in 2009. Neither Greenland nor the Faroe Islands are members of the European Union, the Faroese declining membership in EEC from 1973 and Greenland from 1986, in both cases because of fisheries policies.
Despite its modest size, Denmark has been participating in major military and humanitarian operations, most notably the UN and NATO led operations on Cyprus, Bosnia, Korea, Egypt, Croatia, Kosovo, Ethiopia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia.
[edit] Geography
Main article: Geography of Denmark
Map of Denmark
Denmark shares a border of 68 kilometres with Germany to the south and is otherwise surrounded by 7,314 kilometres of coastline. It occupies 43,094 square kilometres. Since 2000 Denmark has been connected by the Øresund Bridge to southern Sweden.
Denmark's northernmost point is Skagens point (the north beach of the Skaw) at 57° 45' 7" northern latitude; the southernmost is Gedser point (the southern tip of Falster) at 54° 33' 35" northern latitude; the westernmost point is Blåvandshuk at 8° 4' 22" eastern longitude; and the easternmost point is Østerskær at 15° 11' 55" eastern longitude. This is in the archipelago Ertholmene 18 kilometres northeast of Bornholm. The distance from east to west is 452 kilometres (281 mi), from north to south 368 kilometres (229 mi).
Denmark consists of the peninsula of Jutland (Jylland) and 443 named islands (1,419 islands above 100 m² in total).[38] Of these, 72 are inhabited,[39] with the largest being Zealand (Sjælland) and Funen (Fyn). The island of Bornholm is located east of the rest of the country, in the Baltic Sea. Many of the larger islands are connected by bridges; the Øresund Bridge connects Zealand with Sweden; the Great Belt Bridge connects Funen with Zealand; and the Little Belt Bridge connects Jutland with Funen. Ferries or small aircraft connect to the smaller islands. Main cities are the capital Copenhagen on Zealand; Århus, Aalborg and Esbjerg in Jutland; and Odense on Funen.
Windmills and yellow brick houses accent the gently rolling meadowlands of Karlebo, in North Zealand
The country is flat with little elevation; having an average height above sea level of 31 metres (102 ft). The highest natural point is Møllehøj, at 170.86 metres (560.56 ft). Other hills in the same area southwest of Århus are Yding Skovhøj at 170.77 metres (560.27 ft) and Ejer Bavnehøj at 170.35 metres (558.89 ft).[40] The area of inland water is: (eastern Denmark) 210 km2 (81 sq mi); (western D.) 490 km2 (189 sq mi).
A forest burial ground in Yding Skovhøj, one of Denmark's highest points
Denmark's coastline is, 7,314 km (4,545 mi).[41] No location in Denmark is further from the coast than 52 km (32 mi). The size of the land area of Denmark cannot be stated exactly since the ocean constantly erodes and adds material to the coastline, and because of human land reclamation projects (to counter erosion). On the southwest coast of Jutland, the tide is between 1 and 2 m (3.28 and 6.56 ft), and the tideline moves outward and inward on a 10 km (6.2 mi) stretch.[42]
Phytogeographically, Denmark (including Greenland and the Faroe Islands) belongs to the Boreal Kingdom and is shared between the Arctic, Atlantic European and Central European provinces of the Circumboreal Region. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, the territory of Denmark can be subdivided into two ecoregions: the Atlantic mixed forests and Baltic mixed forests. The Faroe Islands are covered by the Faroe Islands boreal grasslands, while Greenland hosts the ecoregions of Kalaallit Nunaat high arctic tundra and Kalaallit Nunaat low arctic tundra.
[edit] Climate
Denmark seen from space
The climate is in the temperate zone. The winters are not particularly cold, with mean temperatures in January and February of 0.0 °C, and the summers are cool, with a mean temperature in August of 15.7 °C.[43] Denmark has an average of 121 days per year with precipitation, on average receiving a total of 712 mm per year; autumn is the wettest season and spring the driest.[43]
Grenen near Skagen, Denmark's northmost point
Because of Denmark's northern location, the length of the day with sunlight varies greatly. There are short days during the winter with sunrise coming around 9:00 a.m. and sunset 4:30 p.m., as well as long summer days with sunrise at 4:00 a.m. and sunset at 10 p.m.[44] The shortest and longest days of the year have traditionally been celebrated. The celebration for the shortest day corresponds roughly with Christmas (Danish: jul), and modern celebrations concentrate on Christmas Eve, 24 December. The Norse word jól is a plural, indicating that pre-Christian society celebrated a season with multiple feasts.[45] Christianity introduced the celebration of Christmas, resulting in the use of the Norse name also for the Christian celebration. Efforts by the Catholic Church to replace this name with kristmesse were unsuccessful. The celebration for the longest day is Midsummer Day, which is known in Denmark as sankthansaften (St. John's evening).[46] Celebrations of Midsummer have taken place since pre-Christian times.[47]
[edit] Environment
Denmark has historically taken a progressive stance on environmental preservation; in 1971 Denmark established a Ministry of Environment and was the first country in the world to implement an environmental law in 1973.
To mitigate environmental degradation and global warming the Danish Government has signed the following international agreements: Antarctic Treaty; Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol; Endangered Species Act [48] These agreements have helped in the reduction in CO2 emissions by Denmark.
Denmark was ranked as the 10th best country in the world for "Living Green" by a 2007 Readers Digest survey.,[49] and Copenhagen is recognised as one of the most environmentally friendly cities in the world.[50] Much of the city's success can be attributed to a strong municipal policy combined with a sound national policy, in 2006 Copenhagen Municipality received the European Environmental Management Award.[51] The award was given for long-term holistic environmental planning. Recently many of Denmarks smaller Municipalities such as Lolland and Bornholm have also become environmental leaders. Denmark is home to five of the world's ten largest central solar heating plants (CSHP). The world's largest CSHP is situated in the small community of Marstal on the island of Ærø.
Copenhagen is the spearhead of the bright green environmental movement in Denmark. In 2008, Copenhagen was mentioned by Clean Edge as one of the key cleantech clusters to watch in the book The Cleantech Revolution. The city is the focal point for more than half of Denmark's 700 cleantech companies and draws on some 46 research institutions. The cluster employs more than 60,000 people and is characterised by a close collaboration between universities, business, and governing institutions. The capital's most important cleantech research institutions are the University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Business School,[52] Risø DTU National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, and the Technical University of Denmark which Risø is now part of. Leading up to the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference the University of Copenhagen held the Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges and Decisions conference where the need for comprehensive action to mitigate climate change was stressed by the international scientific community. Notable figures such as Rajendra K. Pachauri, Chairman of the IPCC, Professor Nicholas Stern, author of the Stern Report, and Professor Daniel Kammen all emphasised the good example set by Copenhagen and Denmark in capitalising on cleantech and achieving economic growth while stabilising carbon emissions.
[edit] Denmark's GDP per emissions
Denmark's green house gas emissions per dollar of value produced has been for the most part unstable since 1990, seeing sudden growths and falls. Overall though, there has been a reduction in gas emissions per dollar value added to its market.[53] It is comparable to countries such as Germany,[54] but lagging behind other Scandinavian countries such as Norway[55] and Sweden.[56]
[edit] Government and politics
Main articles: Politics of Denmark and Government of Denmark
Denmark and its dependencies - Greenland, and the Faroe Islands
The royal family of Denmark
The Kingdom of Denmark is a constitutional monarchy. As stipulated in the Danish Constitution, the monarch is not answerable for their actions, and their person is sacrosanct. The monarch formally appoints and dismisses the prime minister and other ministers. The prime minister is customarily chosen through negotiation between the parliament party leaders.
Before being validated through royal assent, all bills and important government measures must be discussed in Statsrådet, a privy council headed by the monarch. The Danish privy council's protocols are secret. Although the monarch is formally given executive power this power is strictly ceremonial. The monarch is expected to be entirely apolitical and refrain from influencing the government. For example, members of the royal family do not cast their votes in elections and referendums even though they have the right.
Legislative authority is vested in the executive (Prime Minister) and the Danish parliament conjointly. Judicial authority lies with the courts of justice.
Executive authority is exercised on behalf of the monarch by the prime minister and other cabinet ministers who head departments. The cabinet, prime minister, and other ministers collectively make up the government. These ministers are responsible to Folketinget (the Danish Parliament), the legislative body, which is traditionally considered to be supreme (that is, able to legislate on any matter and not bound by decisions of its predecessors).
The Folketing is the national legislature. It has the ultimate legislative authority according to the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty, however questions over sovereignty have been brought forward because of Denmark’s entry into the European Union. In theory the doctrine prevails. Parliament consists of 175 members elected by proportional majority, plus two members each from Greenland and Faroe Islands. Parliamentary elections are held at least every four years, but it is within the powers of the prime minister to ask the monarch to call for an election before the term has elapsed. On a vote of no confidence, the parliament may force a single minister or the entire government to resign.
The Danish political system has traditionally generated coalitions. Most Danish post-war governments have been minority coalitions ruling with the support of non-government parties.[57]
Prime Minister of Denmark, Lars Løkke Rasmussen.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen from the Venstre party, a center-right liberal party was prime minister from November 2001 to April 2009. His government was a coalition consisting of Venstre and the Conservative People's Party, with parliamentary support from the right-wing Danish People's Party (Dansk Folkeparti). The three parties obtained a parliamentary majority in the 2001 election and maintained it virtually unchanged in the 2005 election. On October 24, 2007, an early election was called by the Prime Minister for 13 November. Following the election the Danish People's party was strengthened while Anders Fogh Rasmussen's Venstre lost 6 seats and the Conservative Party retained the same number of seats in Parliament as prior to the election. The result ensured that Anders Fogh Rasmussen could continue as prime minister for a third term.
From the autumn of 2008 rumours persisted that Anders Fogh Rasmussen aspired to head NATO. On April 4, 2009, during a NATO summit in Strasbourg, Rasmussen confirmed these speculations. Opposition within NATO, especially from Turkey, was overcome, and Rasmussen was appointed Secretary General of NATO.
On April 5, 2009, Rasmussen resigned, leaving minister of finance and vice president of Venstre Lars Løkke Rasmussen to be the new prime minister.
[edit] Regions and municipalities
Main articles: Regions of Denmark and Municipalities of Denmark
For the administrative divisions used until 2006, see Counties of Denmark.
Denmark is divided into five regions (Danish: regioner, singular: region) and a total of 98 municipalities. The regions were created on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish Municipal Reform to replace the country's traditional thirteen counties (amter). At the same time, smaller municipalities (kommuner) were merged into larger units, cutting the number of municipalities from 270 to 98. The most important area of responsibility for the new regions is the national health service. Unlike the former counties, the regions are not allowed to levy taxes, and the health service is primarily financed by a national 8% (sundhedsbidrag) tax combined with funds from both government and municipalities. Each Regional Council consists of 41 elected politicians elected as part of the 2005 Danish municipal elections.
Most of the new municipalities have a population of at least 20,000 people, although a few exceptions were made to this rule.
The Ertholmene archipelago (96 inhabitants (2008)) is neither part of a municipality nor a region but belongs to the Ministry of Defence.[58]
Greenland and the Faroe Islands have autonomous status and are largely self-governing; each are represented by two seats in the parliament.
Country↓ Population↓ Area
(km²)↓ Density
(pop per km²)↓
Denmark Denmark 5,540,241 43,094 129
Faroe Islands Faroe Islands 48,797 1,399 35
Greenland Greenland 57,564 2,175,600 0.026
Denmark Kingdom of Denmark 5,646,602 2,220,093 2.5
[edit] Economy
Main article: Economy of Denmark
Denmark's mixed economy features above average European living standards[59][60] and high amount of free trade. Denmark ranks 16th in the world in terms of GDP (PPP) per capita and ranks 5th in nominal GDP per capita.
According to World Bank Group, Denmark has the most flexible labour market in Europe; the policy is called flexicurity. It is easy to hire, fire, and find a job. Denmark has a labour force of about 2.9 million. Denmark has the fourth highest ratio of tertiary degree holders in the world.[61] GDP per hour worked was the 10th highest in 2007. Denmark has the world's lowest level of income inequality, according to the UN, and the world's highest minimum wage, according to the IMF. As of June 2009 the unemployment rate is at 6.3%, which is below the EU average of 8.9%.[62]
Denmark is one of the most competitive economies in the world according to World Economic Forum 2008 report, IMD, and The Economist.[63] According to rankings by OECD, Denmark has the most free financial markets in EU-15 and also one of the most free product markets.
Denmark has a company tax rate of 25% and a special time limited tax regime for expatriates.[64] The Danish taxation system is both broad based (25% VAT, not including excise, duty and tax) and has the world's highest income tax.
Denmark's national currency, the krone (plural: kroner), is de facto linked to the Euro through ERM.[65] The exchange rate is pegged at approx. 7.45 kroner per euro. The government has met the economic convergence criteria for participating in the third phase (the common European currency—the Euro) of the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union (EMU), but Denmark, in a September 2000 referendum, rejected The Monetary Union. The Government of Fogh Rasmussen, re-elected in November 2007, announced a new referendum on the euro for 2008 or 2009 at the latest.[66]
Denmark is known from the Danish cooperative movement within among others farming, the food industry (Danish Crown), dairy production (Arla Foods), retailing (Brugsen), wind turbine cooperatives, and co-housing associations.
Support for free trade is high—in a 2007 poll 76% responded that globalisation is a good thing.[67] 70% of trade flows are inside the European Union. Denmark has the 9th highest export per capita in the world. Main exports include: machinery, animals and foodstuff, chemicals and oil and gas.[68] Denmark is a net exporter of food and energy and has for a number of years had a balance of payments surplus while battling an equivalent of approximately 39% of GNP foreign debt or more than 300 billion DKK.[69] Also of importance is the sea territory of more than 105,000 km² (40,000+ sq mi).
Denmark has ranked as the world's 11th most free economy, of 162 countries, in an index created by the Wall Street Journal and Heritage Foundation, the Index of Economic Freedom 2008. The Index has been categorised as using inappropriately weighted indicators for economic freedom, leading to wealthy and/or conservative countries with barriers to trade placing high on the list, while poor and/or socialist countries with fewer restrictions on trade place low.[70] The Index has only a 10% statistical correlation with a standard measure of economic growth at GDP per capita.[71] Neither does the Index account for the actions of governments to nurture business[72] in the manner of the Japanese Zaibatsus during the late 20th century that helped lead to the Japanese economic miracle.
StatBank is the name of a large statistical database maintained by the central authority of statistics in Denmark. Online distribution of statistics has been a part of the dissemination strategy in Denmark since 1985. By this service, Denmark is a leading country in the world regarding electronic dissemination of statistics. There are about 2 million hits every year.
[edit] Energy
Offshore wind turbines near Copenhagen
See also: Nordic energy market, Coal power in Denmark, and Wind power in Denmark
Denmark has considerable sources of oil and natural gas in the North Sea and ranks as number 32 in the world among net exporters of crude oil.[73] Most electricity is produced from coal, but Denmark also has a share of windpower. Wind turbines produce 16–19% of electricity demand.[74] Denmark is connected by transmission lines to other European countries.
To encourage investment in wind power, families were offered a tax exemption for generating their own electricity within their own or an adjoining commune. While this could involve purchasing a turbine outright, more often families purchased shares in wind turbine cooperatives which in turn invested in community wind turbines. By 2004 over 150,000 Danes were either members of cooperatives or owned turbines, and about 5,500 turbines had been installed, although with greater private sector involvement the proportion owned by cooperatives had fallen to 75%.
Because of energy taxes, Denmark has the highest household electricity prices in the world,[75] while industries pay just below EU average.[74]
[edit] Transport
Main article: Transport in Denmark
Oresund Bridge from Denmark to Sweden. On the right is the artificial Peberholm island, and on the left Saltholm.
Significant investment has been made in building road and rail links between Copenhagen and Malmö, Sweden (the Øresund Bridge), and between Zealand and Funen (the Great Belt Fixed Link). The Copenhagen Malmö Port was also formed between the two cities as the common port for the cities of both nations.
The main railway operator is Danske Statsbaner (Danish State Railways) for passenger services and DB Schenker Rail for freight trains. The railway tracks are maintained by Banedanmark. Copenhagen has a small Metro system, and the greater Copenhagen area has an extensive electrified suburban railway network.
Denmark's national airline (together with Norway and Sweden) is Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), and Copenhagen Airport is the country's largest airport and also the biggest hub in Scandinavia.
A ferry link to the Faroe Islands is maintained by Smyril Line. Other international ferry services are mainly operated by DFDS (to Norway and the UK). Scandlines (to Germany and Sweden), Stena Line (to Norway and Sweden), Color Line (to Norway) and FjordLine (to Norway).
Private vehicles are increasingly used as a means of transportation. Because of the high registration tax (180%) and VAT (25%), and the world's highest income tax rate, new cars are very expensive. The purpose of the tax is to discourage car ownership. Whether a smaller fleet of aging cars is better than a larger fleet of modern cars is a matter for debate, however as the car fleet has increased by 45% over the last 30 years the effect of high taxation on the fleet size seems small.
In 2007, an attempt was made by the government to favour environmentally friendly cars by slightly reducing taxes on high mileage vehicles. However, this has had little effect, and in 2008 Denmark experienced an increase in the import of fuel inefficient old cars (mostly older than 10 years), primarily from Germany as their costs including taxes keeps these cars within the budget of many Danes.
Denmark is in a strong position in terms of integrating fluctuating and unpredictable energy sources such as wind power in the grid. It is this knowledge that Denmark now aims to exploit in the transport sector by focusing on intelligent battery systems (V2G) and plug-in vehicles.[76][77]
[edit] Public policy
See also: Nordic model and Flexicurity
After deregulating the labour market in the 1990s, Denmark has one of the most free labour markets in European countries. According to World Bank labour market rankings, the labour market flexibility is at the same levels as the United States. Around 80% of employees belong to unions and the unemployment funds that are attached to them, but the percentage is falling. Labor market policies is mainly determined in negotiations between the worker unions and employer unions, and the government only interferes if labour strikes extend for too long.
Despite the success of the labour unions, a growing number of people make contracts individually rather than collectively, and many (four out of ten employees) are contemplating dropping especially unemployment fund but occasionally even union membership altogether. The average employee receives a benefit at 47% of their wage level if they have to claim benefits when unemployed. With low unemployment, very few expect to be claiming benefits at all. The only reason then to pay the earmarked money to the unemployment fund would be to retire early and receive early retirement pay (efterløn), which is possible from the age of 60 provided an additional earmarked contribution is paid to the unemployment fund.[78]
The unemployment rate for December 2007 was 2.7%, for a total of 74,900 persons, a reduction by 112,800 persons—2,400 per month—or 60% since December 2003.[79] The Eurostat unemployment number for August 2008 is 2.9%. This has been achieved by employing more than 38% (800,000 people)[80] of the total workforce in public sector jobs. Another measure of the situation on the labour market is the employment rate, that is the percentage of people aged 15 to 64 in employment out of the total number of people aged 15 to 64. The employment rate for Denmark in 2007 was 77.1% according to Eurostat. Of all countries in the world, only Switzerland with 78.% and Iceland with 85.1% had a higher employment rate.
In December 2008, Statistics Denmark reported that 100,000 Danes were affected by unemployment in the third quarter of 2008. Of these, 62% received a job within two months, and 6% had been unemployed for two years or more.
The number of unemployed is forecast to be 65,000 in 2015. The number of people in the working age group, less disability pensioners etc., will grow by 10,000 to 2,860,000, and jobs by 70,000 to 2,790,000;[81] part time jobs are included.[82] Because of the present high demand and short supply of skilled labour, for instance for factory and service jobs, including hospital nurses and physicians, the annual average working hours have risen, especially compared with the economic downturn 1987–1993.[83] Increasingly, service workers of all kinds are in demand, i.e. in the postal services and as bus drivers, and academics.[84] In the fall of 2007, more than 250,000 foreigners are working in the country, of which 23,000 still reside in Germany or Sweden.[85] According to a sampling survey of over 14,000 enterprises from December 2007 to April 2008 39,000 jobs were not filled, a number much lower than earlier surveys, confirming a downturn in the economic cycle.[86]
The level of unemployment benefits is dependent on former employment (the maximum benefit is at 90% of the wage) and at times also on membership of an unemployment fund, which is almost always—but need not be—administered by a trade union, and the previous payment of contributions. However, the largest share of the financing is still carried by the central government and is financed by general taxation, and only to a minor degree from earmarked contributions. There is no taxation, however, on proceeds gained from selling one´s home (provided there was any home equity (da:friværdi)), as the marginal tax rate on capital income from housing savings is around 0 percent.[87]
The Danish welfare model is accompanied by a taxation system that is both broad based (25% VAT, not including excise, duty and tax) and with a progressive income tax model, meaning the more money that is earned, the higher income tax percentage that gets paid (minimum tax rate for adults is 42% scaling to over 60%, except for the residents of Ertholmene that escape the otherwise ubiquitous 8% healthcare tax fraction of the income taxes[88][89]). Other taxes include the registration tax on private vehicles, at a rate of 180%, on top of VAT. Lately (July, 2007) this has been changed slightly in an attempt to favour more fuel efficient cars but maintaining the average taxation level more or less unchanged.[90]
[edit] Demographics
Main articles: Demographics of Denmark and Languages of Denmark
According to figures from Statistics Denmark, in 2009, 90.5% of Denmark’s population of over 5.4 million was of Danish descent.[1] Many of the remaining 9.5% were immigrants, or descendants of recent immigrants, from Bosnia, neighbouring countries, South Asia and Western Asia, many having arrived since an "Alien law" (Udlændingeloven) was enacted in 1983 allowing the immigration of family members of those who had already arrived. There are also small groups of Inuit from Greenland and Faroese. During recent years, anti-mass immigration sentiment has resulted in some of the toughest immigration laws in the European Union.[91][92] Nevertheless, the number of residence permits granted related to labour and to people from within the EU/EEA has increased since implementation of new immigration laws in 2001. However, the number of immigrants allowed into Denmark for family reunification decreased 70% between 2001 and 2006 to 4,198. During the same period the number of asylum permits granted has decreased by 82.5% to 1,095, reflecting a 84% decrease in asylum seekers to 1,960.[93]
Denmark’s population is 5,475,791, giving Denmark a population density of 129.16 inhabitants per km2 (334.53 inh/sq mi).[94] As in most countries, the population is not distributed evenly. Although the land area east of the Great Belt only makes up 9,622 km² (3,715 sq mi), 22.7% of Denmark's land area, it has 45% (2,465,348) of the population. The average population density of this area is 256.2 inhabitants per km² (663.6 per sq mi). The average density in the west of the country (32,772 km²/12,653 sq mi) is 91.86/km² (237.91 per sq mi) (3,010,443 people) (2008).
The median age is 39.8 years with 0.98 males per female. 98.2% of the population is literate (age 15 and up). The birth rate is 1.74 children born per woman (2006 est.), which will be reflected in a drop in the ratio of workers to pensioners. Despite the low birth rate, the population is still growing at an average annual rate of 0.33%.[48] International studies show that the population of Denmark is the happiest of any country in the world.[95]
Danish is the official language and is spoken throughout the country. English and German are the most widely spoken foreign languages.
A total of 1,516,126 Americans reported Danish ancestry in the 2006 American Community Survey.[96] According to the 2006 Census, there were 200,035 Canadians with Danish background.[97]
[edit] Religion
Main article: Religion in Denmark
Church of Denmark
year population members percentage
1984 5,113,500 4,684,060 91.6%
1990 5,135,409 4,584,450 89.3%
2000 5,330,500 4,536,422 85.1%
2005 5,413,600 4,498,703 83.3%
2007 5,447,100 4,499,343 82.6%
2008 5,475,791 4,494,589 82.1%
2009 5,511,451 4,492,121 81.5%
2010 5,534,738 4,479,214 80.9%
statistical data 1984–2002,[98] 1990–2009[99] and 2010[100] Source Kirkeministeriet
According to official statistics from January 2010, 80.9%[101] of the population of Denmark are members of the Lutheran state church, the Danish National Church (Den Danske Folkekirke) down 0.6% compared to the year earlier and 1.2% down compared to two years earlier, which is the state religion established by the Constitution. According to article 6 of the Constitution, the Royal Family must belong to this Church, though the rest of the population is free to adhere to other faiths. About 15% of the Danes do not belong to any denomination.
Denmark's Muslims make up less than 4% of the population and is the country's second largest religious community. As per an overview of various religions / denominations given by the Danish foreign Ministry other groups are less than 1% individually and all added up around 2% totally.[102]
According to the most recent Eurobarometer Poll 2005,[103] 31% of Danish citizens responded that "they believe there is a god", whereas 49% answered that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force" and 19% that "they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, god, or life force". According to a 2005 study by Zuckerman, Denmark has the third highest proportion of atheists and agnostics in the world, estimated to be between 43% and 80%.[104][105]
For more than a hundred years after the Reformation, Lutheranism was the only legal religion in Denmark, but in 1682 the state recognised three other faiths: Roman Catholicism, the Reformed Church, and Judaism. Until the recent immigration of Muslims, these three were practically the only non-Lutheran religions practiced in Denmark.
Forn Siðr (English: The Old Way), based on the much older, native religion, is one of the most recently recognised by the state, gaining official recognition in November 2003.[106]
Religious societies and churches do not need to be state-recognised in Denmark and can be granted the right to perform weddings and other ceremonies without this recognition.
[edit] Education
Main article: Education in Denmark
Rundetårn (Round Tower), an old observatory in the University of Copenhagen, Denmark's oldest and largest university
The Danish education system provides access to primary school, secondary school, and most kinds of higher education. Attendance at "Folkeskole" or equivalent education is compulsory for a minimum of 9 years. Equivalent education could be in private schools or classes attended at home. About 99% of students attend elementary school, 86% attend secondary school, and 41% pursue further education. All college education in Denmark is free; there are no tuition fees to enroll in courses. Students in secondary school or higher may apply for Student Support which provides fixed financial support, disbursed monthly.
Primary school in Denmark is called "den Danske Folkeskole" ("Danish Public School"). It runs from the introductory "kindergarten class"/0'th grade ("børnehaveklasse"/ "0. Klasse") to 10th grade, though 10th grade is optional. Students can alternatively attend "free schools" ("Friskole"), or private schools ("Privatskole"), i.e. schools that are not under the administration of the municipalities, such as christian schools or Waldorf Schools. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, ranked Denmark's education as the 24th best in the world in 2006, being neither significantly higher nor lower than the OECD average.[107]
Following graduation from Folkeskolen, there are several other educational opportunities, including Gymnasium (academically oriented upper secondary education), Higher Preparatory Examination (HF) (similar to Gymnasium, but one year shorter), Higher Technical Examination Programme (HTX) (with focus on Mathematics and engineering), and Higher Commercial Examination Programme (HHX) (with a focus on trade and business), as well as vocational education, training young people for work in specific trades by a combination of teaching and apprenticeship.
Gymnasium, HF, HTX and HHX aim at qualifying students for higher education in universities and colleges.
Denmark has several universities; the largest and oldest are the University of Copenhagen (founded 1479) and University of Aarhus (founded 1928).
Folkehøjskolerne, ("Folk high schools") introduced by politician, clergyman and poet N.F.S. Grundtvig in the 19th century, are social, informal education structures without tests or grades but emphasising communal learning, self-discovery, enlightenment, and learning how to think.[108]
[edit] Culture
Main article: Culture of Denmark
See also: List of Danes
Ærøskøbing, a traditional Danish village
Hans Christian Andersen is known beyond Denmark for his fairy tales, such as The Emperor's New Clothes, The Little Mermaid, and The Ugly Duckling. Karen Blixen (pen name: Isak Dinesen), Nobel laureate author Henrik Pontoppidan, Nobel laureate physicist Niels Bohr, comedic pianist Victor Borge and philosopher Søren Kierkegaard have also made a name for themselves outside Denmark.
Copenhagen is home to many famous sites and attractions, including Tivoli Gardens, Amalienborg Palace (home of the Danish monarchy), Christiansborg Pa
Microsoft Historie del 1
Historie
1975-1985: Begyndelsen
Microsoft blev grundlagt af Bill Gates og Paul Allen i 1975. Firmaets første produkt var en BASIC-fortolker til microcomputeren Altair 8800. Microsoft indgik i 1981 en kontrakt med IBM om at levere et operativsystem til deres kommende produkt, den første pc. Microsoft havde på det tidspunkt ikke et sådan operativsystem på lager, men købte en CP/M-klon ved navn QDOS, som de omdøbte til PC-DOS.
IBM lod Microsoft beholde rettighederne til DOS, hvilket næppe var sket, hvis IBM i tide havde indset pc'ens potentiale. Pc'en blev en stor succes, ikke mindst efter at Compaq og sidenhen andre lancerede klon-pc'er, dvs. computere, der var kompatible med IBM's pc. Microsoft markedsførte DOS til de øvrige pc-producenter under navnet MS-DOS, og DOS blev hurtigt de facto-standarden på pc'er. Hermed var grunden lagt til Microsofts dominans på pc-platformen.
Bill Gates var Microsofts første administrerende direktør, og siden 1981 var han også formand for firmaets bestyrelse. I 2000 overgik chefstolen til Steve Ballmer, der havde været ansat i firmaet siden 1980, mens Gates fortsatte som bestyrelsesformand og chefsoftwarearkitekt.
Historie
1975-1985: Begyndelsen
Microsoft blev grundlagt af Bill Gates og Paul Allen i 1975. Firmaets første produkt var en BASIC-fortolker til microcomputeren Altair 8800. Microsoft indgik i 1981 en kontrakt med IBM om at levere et operativsystem til deres kommende produkt, den første pc. Microsoft havde på det tidspunkt ikke et sådan operativsystem på lager, men købte en CP/M-klon ved navn QDOS, som de omdøbte til PC-DOS.
IBM lod Microsoft beholde rettighederne til DOS, hvilket næppe var sket, hvis IBM i tide havde indset pc'ens potentiale. Pc'en blev en stor succes, ikke mindst efter at Compaq og sidenhen andre lancerede klon-pc'er, dvs. computere, der var kompatible med IBM's pc. Microsoft markedsførte DOS til de øvrige pc-producenter under navnet MS-DOS, og DOS blev hurtigt de facto-standarden på pc'er. Hermed var grunden lagt til Microsofts dominans på pc-platformen.
Bill Gates var Microsofts første administrerende direktør, og siden 1981 var han også formand for firmaets bestyrelse. I 2000 overgik chefstolen til Steve Ballmer, der havde været ansat i firmaet siden 1980, mens Gates fortsatte som bestyrelsesformand og chefsoftwarearkitekt.
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