In the digital world where anything older than five years is considered long in the tooth, Yahoo is somewhat of an anomaly. As one of the first search engines it has endured where many others have fallen by the wayside. 

And while it may not currently be at the zenith of its powers, Yahoo remains a formidable digital and social force. Here's a few facts you may not have known about the venerable behemoth.

Ya-Who?

Yahoo was conceived in 1994 by electrical engineer grad students Jerry Yang and David Filo. 

The pair first named their creation the less-than-catchy Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web.

Eventually they settled on Yahoo, which is a backronym for "Yet Another Hierarchically Organized Oracle".

Diversified

These days, Yahoo spreads itself over a number of different offerings including Search, Mail, Directory, News, Finance, Groups and Answers.

Collectively, the Yahoo family of websites are one of the most popular in the world, attracting 700 million visitors every month.

Global reach

Given its 20 years old, it should surprise no-one that Yahoo is popular around the globe.

The company connects with 500 million consumers every month in over 30 languages.

Message in a bottle

Yahoo Mail remains one of the web's most popular email clients, with over 273 million users.

And Yahoo Search accounts for 10.4% of the US Search market.

Next steps

While Yahoo's current CEO Marissa Mayer has attracted some controversy (including the ban on employees working remotely), she has helped the company move forward.

Last year Yahoo paid a reported US$1.1 billion to snap up teen-favourite platform Tumblr, which has since rolled out a number of advertising options for brands.