Yahoo, as an incorporated company, is officially 18 years old on Friday. The company was incorporated on March 1, 1995. I can’t believe there’s no Google doodle to celebrate.

In fact, we’re not seeing much celebration at all. Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Roundtable has decorated his site, but that’s about it. Not even any acknowledgement on Yahoo’s own homepage.

Yahoo’s actual birthday is in January (of 1994). That is when it was actually created. It became a publicly traded company in April, 1996.

I’m not going to go through the entire history of the company. It’s pretty well documented, and frankly I was in middle school when the company was founded, and I’m not that young anymore. Yahoo is a dinosaur in Internet years. It’s been around since probably many of you have even been using the web.

It’s no secret that the company has struggled in recent years, implementing a revolving door for CEOs. Longtime Googler Marissa Mayer is now at the helm, and the real question is, can she get Yahoo on the right track. While it’s still early in her Yahoo career, Yahoo has already redesigned two of its major properties under Mayer – Mail and the homepage. Both have had their fair share of critics, but what redesign doesn’t?

Still, that home page has a lot of critics.

Mayer has been the subject of a fair amount of criticism herself this week, for her decision to have Yahoo employees all work at the office, rather than from at home, though she has also had some defending her stance.

Mayer also made headlines earlier this month, when she expressed dismay with the company’s partnership with Microsoft, leading many to wonder if the partnership will soon fall apart. The company has been doing better than expected in search, and based on recent words from Mayer, search is a priority at the company.

That doesn’t mean Yahoo is “a search company”. According to the company’s Investor Relations FAQ, this is what Yahoo “is”:

Yahoo! makes the world’s daily habits inspiring and entertaining. By creating highly personalized experiences for our users, we keep people connected to what matters most to them, across devices and around the globe. In turn, we create value for advertisers by connecting them with the audiences that build their businesses.

As TechCrunch notes, the company has issued its annual 10-K report to the SEC, and is now calling itself “a global technology company” rather than a “digital media company”.

Is Yahoo on the right track?