As the search engine wars heat up between Yahoo and Google it's very interesting to note the similarities and differences between the two. Both companies are based in Silicon Valley with only 5 miles separating the two of them. Google has approximately 3,021 employees whereas Yahoo employs 7,600.

Google was created in January 1996 whereas Yahoo is exactly two years older however Yahoo went public (IPO) on April 12, 1996 - Google's IPO wasn't until August 19,2004.

Founders

Yahoo was founded in January 1994 by David Filo and Jerry Yang who were both Ph.D. candidates at Stanford University. Google was founded exactly two years later on the same campus by another pair of Stanford Ph.D candidates named Larry Page and Sergey Brinn. All four were in their early to mid twenties when they founded their respective companies. Today all four are internet legends and multi-billionaires.

What Do Their Names Mean?

Yahoo is an acronym for Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle

Google comes from the mathematical term