Walla!
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Walla! Communications Inc. | |
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| Type | Public (TASE: WALA) |
| Founded | Israel (1995) |
| Headquarters | Tel Aviv, Israel |
| Key people | Avraham Gabai, Chairman of the board Ilan Yeshua, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Erez Philosoph, Founder & former Vice President Gadi Hadar, Founder & former CEO |
| Industry | Internet services |
| Net income | ▲65 Million USD (2006) |
| Employees | 115 (est.) |
| Website | www.walla.co.il |
Walla! (Hebrew:!וואלה) is an Israeli internet news portal, search engine and E-mail services provider. One of the first Israeli internet portals, Walla! is considered as one of the most popular web sites in the country. It was founded by Erez Philosoph and Gadi Hadar in 1995 to serve as a guide to internet sites. By 1998, the company had gone public on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and in 2001 it merged with IOL, a similar site run by the Ha'aretz Group.
Walla! provides news from Israel and around the world, 24 hours a day. Most news stories that appear in Walla! come from the Ha'aretz Group, news agencies and other content providers. However, during the year 2006, Walla! started building an independent news and editorial staff, which produces original news stories and special features. In addition, Walla! produces original content in various fields such as sports, cinema, music, fashion and food.
The website offers many programs and services, a search engine, E-mail, online shops, chats, and video on demand. The main holders of the company are Bezeq and Ha'aretz Group.
[edit] Main Services
- Walla!News - Breaking news and analysis from Israel and around the world, 24 hours a day.
- Walla!Mail - Free E-mail including a five gigabyte inbox.
- Walla!Shops - Online shopping network.
- Walla!Music - On demand music as well as the option to listen to various radio stations live.
- Walla!Cellular - Downloads for mobile phones.
- Walla!pedia - In 2005 Walla has made use of the GFDL copyright license on which Wikipedia runs and copied the entire Hebrew Wikipedia's database. Walla! displays the articles under the headline Walla!pedia, but mentions that the articles originated from Wikipedia.
Unlike Wikipedia, the users cannot edit the articles and the former versions and history of the articles are not shown. The copied database is out of date and thus includes some mistakes or even vandalism which was present at the moment at which the copying occurred. For example, in Walla!pedia the article on Ariel Sharon still declares that he is the prime minister of Israel.
Screenshot of Walla!'s main page
[edit] External links
- (Hebrew) Original 'Walla!
- (English) E-mail
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