Yahoo! acquired the search software firm Inktomi in 2003.
Inktomi was founded in 1996 by University of California, Berkeley researchers Eric Brewer and Paul Gauthier. Its technology powered search services including HotBot and was licensed or supplied to major companies such as Microsoft, Yahoo!, Amazon, eBay, and Walmart.
After the dot-com bubble burst, Inktomi’s value fell sharply and the company was restructured. Yahoo! agreed to buy the remaining company for about $241 million, and the acquisition was completed on March 19, 2003. Yahoo! used Inktomi’s technology as part of its own search infrastructure.
A common mix-up is confusing Inktomi with companies Yahoo! acquired later, such as Overture, which strengthened Yahoo!’s paid-search business. Inktomi itself was primarily a search technology and internet infrastructure company. Its name came from Iktomi, a trickster spider figure in Lakota tradition.