GeoCities closes its doors today

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Today marks the official demise of online hosting service GeoCities, following its closure by parent company Yahoo.

Users will still be able to keep hold of their GeoCities email addresses, but any files they have stored using the service will be deleted - and rendered unrecoverable - after today.

"We have enjoyed hosting web sites created by Yahoo! users all over the world, and we're proud of the community you've built. However, we have decided to focus on helping our customers explore and build relationships online in other ways," Yahoo stated on a page featuring Q&As about the closure.

"Beginning on October 26, 2009, you will no longer be able to use GeoCities to maintain a free presence online — but we're excited about the other services we have designed to help you connect with friends and family and share your activities and interests."

GeoCities was founded back in 1994, and acquired by Yahoo around five years later.

When the acquisition was announced, Yahoo saw clear promise in the benefits it could offer the company.

"GeoCities has built the web's most popular and widely used community," Tim Koogle, then chairman and chief executive of Yahoo, said in a statement at the time.

"Through this acquisition, we are accelerating our global leadership position by combining two of the web's strongest brands and most heavily used services into one powerful offering."

In other Yahoo news this week, Carl Icahn resigned from the board.

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