Yahoo Inc.

Yahoo Inc. is a privately held American technology and digital media company founded in 1994 by Jerry Yang and David Filo. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, and with a major office in New York City, Yahoo today is majority-owned by private equity firm Apollo Global Management (90%), with Verizon Communications retaining a 10% stake. This ownership structure resulted from Apollo's $5 billion acquisition of Verizon Media (which included Yahoo and AOL) in September 2021. While current revenue figures are not public, the company's 2020 revenue was reported as $7.4 billion.

As a pioneering internet company, Yahoo operates a wide range of web-based services. Its portfolio includes well-known consumer products such as Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, and Yahoo Sports. The company also provides a web search engine and a suite of advertising technology services under the brands Yahoo Ads and Yahoo DSP. Historically, Yahoo's operations were much broader, but under Apollo's ownership, the company has focused on its highest-traffic properties while making strategic acquisitions in areas like AI-driven news and sports betting.

The provided case data, showing three suits as a defendant and one as a plaintiff, suggests Yahoo is primarily an operating company defending its technologies. The company has faced patent infringement suits from entities like Intent IQ, LLC, AlmondNet, Inc., and Gigex, Inc. in various U.S. District Courts. The lawsuits from AlmondNet and its affiliate Intent IQ relate to online advertising technology, a core part of Yahoo's business. Yahoo has also utilized the patent system proactively, as seen in its 2017 petition to challenge a patent held by AlmondNet at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. This mix of defensive litigation and occasional offensive patent challenges is typical for a large, established technology company.