EGroups
Encyclopedia
eGroups.com was an email list
Electronic mailing list
An electronic mailing list is a special usage of email that allows for widespread distribution of information to many Internet users. It is similar to a traditional mailing list — a list of names and addresses — as might be kept by an organization for sending publications to...

 management web site. The site allowed users to create their own mailing lists and allowed others to sign up for membership on the list. The web site provided archives of the messages as well as list management functionality. Each group also had a shared calendar, file space, group chat, and a simple database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...

. It was bought by Yahoo!
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...

 and became part of Yahoo! Groups
Yahoo! Groups
Yahoo! Groups is one of the world’s largest collections of online discussion boards. The term Groups refers to Internet communication which is a hybrid between an electronic mailing list and a threaded Internet forum, in other words, Group messages can be read and posted by e-mail or on the Group's...

.

History

The company originally started by Scott Hassan in January, 1997, as an email archiving service called FindMail. Carl B. Page joined the company part-time in May 1997. In December, 1997, Hassan decided to add the ability to host free mailing lists and called the new product MakeList.com. Martin Roscheisen
Martin Roscheisen
R. Martin Roscheisen is an Austrian-American technology entrepreneur based in Silicon Valley.-Background and Education:According to a profile in German business journal Handelsblatt. Martin Roscheisen was born and raised in Munich, Germany, as an Austrian citizen. Attending Feodor Lynen high...

 joined as CEO in March 1998. Makelist.com quickly grew to 250,000 users before taking a venture finance round of $810,000 from Atlas Venture
Atlas Venture
Atlas Venture is an international early-stage venture capital firm that invests in communications, information technology, and life sciences companies. From the late 1990s through the mid-2000s the firm was leading investor in startup companies in both the U.S. and Europe...

 in May 1998. The post-money valuation
Post-money valuation
Post-money valuation is the value of a company after an investment has been made. This value is equal to the sum of the pre-money valuation and the amount of new equity....

 was set at $4.5m. In June, 1998, the company was renamed eGroups.com. In October, 1998, with 1.2 million users (growing at 12,000 users per day), the company had an offer on the table from Excite
Excite
Excite is a collection of Internet sites and services owned by IAC Search & Media, which is a subsidiary of InterActive Corporation . Launched in 1994, it is an online service offering a variety of content, including an Internet portal, a search engine, a web-based email, instant messaging, stock...

 for $40m but decided instead to take $5.1 million more investment money from Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital is a Californian venture capital firm located on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, California. The Wall Street Journal has called Sequoia Capital "one of the highest-caliber venture firms", and noted that it is "one of Silicon Valley's most influential venture-capital firms"...

.

In November 1999, ONElist
Onelist
ONElist was a free mailing list service created by Mark Fletcher in August 1997. In November 1999 ONElist merged with eGroups. In June 2000 eGroups was purchased by Yahoo!....

 and eGroups merged and started work on an initial public offering
Initial public offering
An initial public offering or stock market launch, is the first sale of stock by a private company to the public. It can be used by either small or large companies to raise expansion capital and become publicly traded enterprises...

, as eGroups.com, with 13 million users exchanging more than 1.3 billion email messages each month. In January 2000, the company raised a further $42 million and filed a S1 with the SEC on March 23, 2000.

In August 2000 with 18 million users, the company was purchased by Yahoo!
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...

 for $413m in a stock deal and became Yahoo! Groups
Yahoo! Groups
Yahoo! Groups is one of the world’s largest collections of online discussion boards. The term Groups refers to Internet communication which is a hybrid between an electronic mailing list and a threaded Internet forum, in other words, Group messages can be read and posted by e-mail or on the Group's...

.

Advantages

  • Have your own calendar which you can share with other members
  • eGroups are mostly specialized groups of certain people which means that the group consists of people with same interests
  • You have a shared space so you can download and upload specific files
  • You get emails if someone comments on posts of interest
  • You have a group-chat-function included
  • All messages are saved so you can have a message history
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