Yahoo shuts down search engine relic AltaVista Yahoo purchased the site in 2003 as part of a $1.7 billion deal and announced its demise on Tumblr last month. Other casualties include venture site Kozmo.com and the butler from Ask Jeeves. Latter-day visitors to AltaVista will now be redirected to the main Yahoo search page. Search expert Danny Sullivan wrote a eulogy to "the amazing AltaVista," comparing the site to a bright child neglected by its parents. You were loved. You really were. People did not want to leave you. But despite adding new features, some of which Google copied, you couldn't keep up with the pace and innovation of that company, which decided against becoming a portal like your corporate masters ordered for you," he posted on his blog. You deserved from Yahoo, itself one of the old-time brands of the web, to have more attention paid to your role. Yahoo is the third most used search engine in the US, preceded by Google and Microsoft's Bing, according to research firm comScore. Nostalgic fans took to Twitter to mourn the site's closure. RIP Alta Vista. Kids if you don't know what it is... Google it," wrote one user. LA Times Haiku philosophically tweeted: "Tell your grandchildren / There was once a search engine / Called Alta Vista."