Go.com

Go.com
Web address www.go.com
Commercial? yes
Type of site
 Web portal
Available in English
Owner Disney Interactive Media Group
Created by Disney Interactive Media Group
Launched January 9, 1998
Alexa rank
 negative increase 58 (March 2015)[1]

Go.com (also known as The Go Network) is a landing page for Disney content, operated by the Walt Disney Internet Group, which is a part of The Walt Disney Company. It began as a web portal launched by Jeff Gold.[2] Go.com includes content from ABC News and ESPN which are associated with Disney and are hosted under a .go.com name. Along with Time Warner's Pathfinder.com, Go.com proved to be an expensive failure for its parent company, as web users preferred to use search engines to access content directly, rather than start at a top-level corporate portal. In 2013, the site was transitioned from a portal to a simple landing page.

History

In January 1998, Disney registered go.com.[3] Infoseek and Disney Online joint ventured in developing the Go Network, an internet portal.[4] Go.com was launched in January 1999 as a portal with content from ABCNews.com, ESPN.com and Disney.[5]

With Disney's purchase of the remainder of Infoseek in July 1999, the Go Network, Infoseek, the Disney Catalog, Disney Online (Disney.com and DisneyStore.com), ABC News Internet Ventures, ESPN Internet Ventures, and Buena Vista Internet Group were merged into the Go.com company; the company was 72% Disney-owned, with the other outstanding ownership in a tracking stock.[6]

In October 1999, the Go Guides program, a user-edited directory like DMOZ, was launched.[7][8]

Go.com's original logo used from 1998 to 1999.

In January 2000, Go.com was forced to abandon its original stoplight logo because of a complaint of similar-looking logos filed by Goto.com.[9] Concurrently, Go.com company officials announced it was shifting from a general appeal portal to featuring entertainment content.[8] A court later ruled that Go.com had to pay $21.5 million in damages to Goto.com.[10]

However, in January 2001, Disney announced that it would be closing Go.com and its search engine, laying off approximately 400 employees and retiring the go.com tracking stock.[11] Also announced was the closing of Go.com's volunteer-edited directory. With the closing, some volunteers created, or migrated to, offshoot directories including JoeAnt, Goguides.org, and Skaffe.com.

In March 2001, Go.com dropped its internal search engine in favor of goto.com search results.[10]

Current status

Go.com's second logo used from 2001 to 2005

Despite its announcement, go.com never ceased operations. Instead, in March 2001, the site ended its search engine and switched to a search engine provided by goto.com, whose parent, Inktomi, was eventually purchased by Yahoo!.

As of January 2, 2015, some of Disney's sites, including ABC's, broadcast, cable and news (except for a handful of ESPN sites) continue to be hosted on the go.com domain, although a base address is used for branding and simplicity purposes; the ESPN site address redirects from espn.com[12] to espn.go.com,[13] for example, the website for ABC Family redirects to abcfamily.go.com.

Go.com terminated its email service on August 31, 2010.

Go.com's final logo before it was rebranded as a landing page.

In 2013, Disney retired the Go.com logo and branding, turning the domain into a Disney-branded landing page without a search engine.

Notes

  1. ^ January 28, 2000 - Judge bars Disney from using Go.com logo
  2. ^ February 3, 2000 - Go Going Elsewhere, Loses Logo
  3. ^ January 29, 2001 - Disney to Discontinue Go.com Portal
  4. ^ March 15, 2001 - Go.com Becomes GoTo

References

  1. ↑ "Go.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2015-03-27.
  2. ↑ Bahareth, Mohammad (April 18, 2012). Kings of the Internet. iUniverse. p. 210. ISBN 9781469798431. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
  3. ↑ Polsson, Ken. "1998". Chronology of the Walt Disney Company. kpolsson.com. Retrieved 7 December 2012. source: CNet News.com, http://www.news.cnet.com/
  4. ↑ Tedesco, Richard (December 14, 1998). "Disney, Infoseek give green light". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved 30 November 2012.
  5. ↑ "GO Network premieres". Money. CNNfn. January 12, 1999. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
  6. ↑ "Disney absorbs Infoseek". Money. CNNfn. July 12, 1999. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
  7. ↑ "The Search Engine Report: Go Guides Goes Live". searchenginewatch.com. October 4, 1999. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Sullivan, Danny (Feb 3, 2000). "Go Going Elsewhere, Loses Logo". Search Engine Watch.com. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
  9. ↑ Jacobus, Patricia (January 28, 2000). "Judge bars Disney from using Go.com logo". CNET News. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Sullivan, Danny (March 14, 2001). "Go.com Becomes GoTo". Search Engine Watch.com. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
  11. ↑ "Disney to Discontinue Go.com Portal". siliconvalley.internet.com. January 29, 2001. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
  12. ↑ "espn.com". espn.com. Retrieved 2012-07-10.
  13. ↑ "espn.go.com". espn.go.com. Retrieved 2012-07-10.

External links