Yahoo on Monday closed GeoCities, a free web hosting service that it purchased for over $3-billion at the height of the dot-com boom.

"However, we have decided to focus on helping our customers explore and build relationships online in other ways."

Yahoo said GeoCities would not be available after Monday and recommended GeoCities refugees set up new online homes at its paid web hosting service, with an introductory offer of just $5 for the first 12 months.

The closure of GeoCities comes a week after Yahoo reported that aggressive cost-cutting helped it more than triple its net profit despite a 12-percent decline in revenue in its third quarter.

Yahoo announced the planned closure of GeoCities early this year, saying it was "increasing investment in some areas while scaling back in others".

GeoCities was founded in 1994 as Beverly Hills Internet and bought by Yahoo during the infamous dot-com boom in Silicon Valley.

GeoCities provided people with tools to build interactive websites and eventually added chat forums and other community-oriented features.

Yahoo eventually added fee-paying premium services in an effort to make money at GeoCities, which had trouble retaining users and getting profitable.

AFP

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