It must be disconcerting to a big Internet company to shut down a whole website and nobody even notices. Not even a short note on Twitter from a concerned user until now. But that’s what apparently happened.
At some point Yahoo shut down Bix, a karaoke and contest website that they acquired in late 2006. Yes, at some point in 2006 someone at Yahoo said “Karaoke? Contests? We gotta own that!”
Six days ago at least it was still up and running at bix.yahoo.com. Now that just redirects to m.www.yahoo.com.
We first wrote about Bix in July 2006 and then again in August 2006. The company had raised $6.77 million from Sutter Hill Ventures, Trinity, and others prior to the acquisition.
If anyone knows when exactly this shut down, we want to know. It at least needs a proper burial before dropping into the deadpool. We’ve also got an email in to Yahoo PR.
Thanks for noticing, @charliebravo.
Update: From Yahoo:
After careful consideration, we officially closed the Bix site on June 30, 2009. We initially notified our users that this was happening on
June 1st, and provided them with instructions on how to download their video content.
This is part of the ongoing prioritization efforts at Yahoo!, where we are increasing investment in some areas while scaling back in others.
I don’t see why these big businesses buy out startups and kill them. They get some sort of kick out of it. Fucked really.
Yahoo is Number #1 in that, they have stopped many services this year!
I think those startups have to be killed because they aren’t attractive to users and thus are failed to profit. Instead of losing money in maintaining them, ending them is the solution.
Duh. The question was “WHY PURCHASE IT IN THE FIRST PLACE?”.
They gamble on buying startups just like VCs gamble on investing in them. VCs won’t keep pouring money into a biz if it’s turning into a flop–why would an acquiring company?
It’s a matter of acceptable failure rate…and knowing when to turn off the money spigot.
I hope Microsoft shuts down that crappy company, and I will go Yahoooooooooo
bix was crap in the 1st place. It wasn’t even a gabmle.
i didnt even know that there was such a site!
I sense another domain sale coming up.
If I remember correctly, they paid $30M for these guys…
well atleast somebody made a killing! the previous owners are laughing all the way to the bank!
Nice This topic. I am glad to come here
Wow. I have never even heard of bix. Too many webpages spawning up here and there, but none making it big as a brand.
aehm Karsoke? aehm Bix? sorry, missed that one…
(and certainly don’t regret it)
Seems that Yahoo is getting better and better in contributing to deadpool
…. guess what next???
Bing.
LOL! Maybe, but unlikely. For now. Bing has the possibility to be a strong search contender. Then again, time will tell.
Never heard of Bix, they and so never used the website. I am not into Karaoke however someone in Yahoo must have been to convince the board to buy the site.
Maybe someone within Yahoo woke up one morning had his weetabix and decided he will buy Bix.
What were Yahoo thinking when they bought the website????
They weren’t thinking.
I am sure someone got fired for that acquisition!
if something does not work, should go. its better to shut a service down than keeping it alive just for the sake of it..
I hate when I find out about a service I would have enjoyed… after it’s already taken a dive in the deadpool. Bix? I would have OWNED that bastard.
ksolo.
ksolo is by far the worse compared to singsnap.com or thekaraokechannel.com .. go to singsnap for songs, and community, go to the karaokechannel for parties or group activites, ksolo requires you to install spyware
I think after july 28th checkout this by one twitter user http://twitter....uses/2891466425
Bing has it redirecting as early as the 23rd:
http://cc.bingj...93f668,6b1a2ace
Need extra help or just another set of eyes?Let http://www.thessayist.com be your researcher – we can help you!
I checked bix the day it was closed, June 30 2009
Me too. I was pissed. I’ve been looking for a good contest web service.
Can anyone suggest alternatives?
sugarloot.com
I have to admit I’m being overconfident, but with http://www.thessayist.com you too will be.Proof? http://bit.ly/ttqHj
“I don’t believe you. You need more people.” – Jay Z
See that column taking up a third of the screen over there to my right —>
That’s where you advertise.
feel the power of Yahoo! They shut down a site – nobody notices. I have a couple of popular sites to shut down I’m calling them!
I was not able to notice this one since I’m not a regular visitor of this site.
Someone noticed to say that no did not notice is wrong. There had to be some people otherwise why even buy it; there could have been a couple thousand users and I bet there mad.
Anyone kinda like the idea of email at bix.com since they ran out of address at yahoo.com and rocketmail nope.
Perhaps Yahoo warrants its own special deadpool? It could certainly fill a cemetery with all of its bodies.
Thanks for the shoutback. @charleybravo
Here’s the real question: Mike Speiser was co-founder / CEO of Bix. He has been in and out of the “venture capital” sphere over the years and also co-founded Epinions, which had legal issues over their handling of options / stock /valuation when they were acquired (merged?) with DealTime to become Shopping.com.
Was the Bix purchase by Yahoo in some way an orchestrated payback by an involved VC firm?
http://www.nyti...iht-dotcom.html
Or it was just one of many dumb purchases by Yahoo.
“never assume malevolence what can be more easily explained by incompetence”
no need for conspiracy here: yahoo thought Bix had potential, so they acquired it. didn’t work out as they hoped, so they eventually killed it. end of story.
and just to clarify: mike & leonard speiser (bix co-founders) are two of the sharpest guys i know.
regardless of the outcome of Bix, i’d bet on either of them any day of the week.
Which yahoo was making acquisition decisions for Yahoo?
I think it would be a public service to all businesses if TechCrunch had a rogue’s gallery of Dilbertesque executives. You could award a “Meg Whitman Skype Trophy” for the dumbest (or most overvalued) acquisition of the year.
A number of the online competition sites have been closing – sims online was closed not long ago. Bix had more than karaoke – photos were popular
It is my duty to report that Lucky Voice’s streaming karaoke service exists as an alternative, should one require some home singing goodness
a lot of them have been closing due to unknow reason. maybe there are a lot of competition inside that they cannot carry the pressure of some malware. computer virus protection
Oops wrong URL:
http://www.talt...a.com/contests/