GAMEY

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia, by MultiMedia

GAMEY is a popular acronym for five companies that commonly buy small startup internet- or computer-related companies. The term refers to the companies Google, AOL, Microsoft, eBay, and Yahoo!.

A common mentality among college-level computer programmers is that if they can create a good program, they can make money simply by being bought out by one of the GAMEY. The term GAMEY is also popular with many bloggers, and many believe that the term was originally termed in blog circles.

Companies bought by GAMEY

• 1997: Microsoft acquires Hotmail, a free e-mail service.
• 1997: Microsoft acquires WebTV, a TV-based internet service for dial up users.
• February 1998: AOL acquires CompuServe, an online service provider.
• 1998: AOL acquires Mirabilis, maker of the instant messaging service ICQ.
• 1999: Yahoo! acquires broadcast.com, a web radio company.
• 1999: Yahoo! acquires GeoCities, a free webhosting service.
• 1999: AOL acquires Netscape Communications Corporation, maker of Netscape browsers.
• 1999: AOL acquires Mapquest, a free online map service.
• 2000: Microsoft acquires Bungie Studios, makers of the popular Halo game series
• 2000: Microsoft acquires Digital Anvil, video game developer that made the Starlancer series.
• 2001: Microsoft acquires Ensemble Studios, video game developer that made the Age of Empires series.
• 2001: Yahoo! acquires LAUNCH media, an online radio station.
• 2001: Yahoo! acquires HotJobs, an online recruiting tool that later became Yahoo! HotJobs.
• 2002: Microsoft acquires Rare, video game developer that made GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark.
• Note: Microsoft later reformed Bungie, Digital Anvil, Ensemble Studios and Rare all under one banner called Microsoft Game Studios.
• July 2002: eBay acquires PayPal, an internet payment service.
• October 2002: Yahoo! acquires Overture, a branded text-based pay-per-click (PPC) advertising service, similar to Google's AdWords. It was later rebranded Yahoo! Search Marketing
• 2003: Google acquires Pyra Labs to manage their Blogger service.
• July 2004: Google acquires Picasa, both as stand-alone software and as a complement to their Blogger service.
• July 2004: Yahoo acquires Oddpost, a pay-for webmail service that has been rumored to help develop the new Yahoo Mail beta.
• October 2004: Google acquires Keyhole to manage their Google Maps service, and later to release Google Earth
• December 2004: Microsoft acquires GIANT software, whose GIANT AntiSpyware later becomes Windows Defender.
• March 2005: Yahoo! acquires Flickr, a photosharing service.
• July 2005: Yahoo! acquires the rights to Konfabulator, a popular Widget engine.
• August 2005: eBay acquires Skype, a VOIP provider.
• August 2005: Yahoo! acquires DialPad, a VOIP provider.
• December 2005: Yahoo! acquires Del.icio.us, a Social Bookmarking service.

Start of GAMEY

eBay's purchase of Skype is when the term was first started appearing in blogs and podcasts.

Possible Future Targets for GAMEY

• Web 2.0 - Some bloggers and podcasters have suggested (including the popular This Week in Tech podcast) that the new Web 2.0 technology may be purchased by one of the GAMEY. Note: John C. Dvorak said on This Week in Tech that "...it [Web 2.0] will be bought by Yahoo, or Google or Microsoft." he did not use the term GAMEY.
• Opera - Rumors about a possible takeover of Opera by Google, although Opera dismissed these rumors. (1)
• Writely - Rumors say that Writely, the online word processor, may be purchased by Google.

AOL's Fate

In late September 2005, rumors circulated the internet that AOL may be for sale by Time Warner. It is an ironic twist that three of the other GAMEY companies (Google, Microsoft and Yahoo) are all interested in buying AOL. It seems unlikely that eBay would purchase AOL. Some have suggested that Adobe or Apple replace the A in GAMEY in place of AOL.

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This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.