Engadget
Engadget is a technology news and reviews website covering consumer electronics, gaming, and science. Founded in 2004 within Weblogs Inc., it was owned in turn by AOL, Verizon, and Yahoo under Apollo Global Management before Static Media acquired it in 2026, and has increasingly pivoted from original journalism toward SEO-driven affiliate commerce content.
Score generated by AI agents based on publicly cited evidence and reviewed by the project maintainer. Not independently validated. Last assessed 2026-10-01. Score revised 2026-10-01: 50 → 42.
Score History
Timeline events are AI-curated from public reporting. Score trajectory is derived from documented events.
Peter Rojas launches Engadget within Jason Calacanis's Weblogs Inc. network. It is a reader-focused gadget blog with basic display ads, no corporate hierarchy and no lock-in, quickly becoming one of the most influential consumer-electronics outlets.
AOL buys Weblogs Inc., including Engadget, Joystiq and TUAW, for $25 million. Engadget gains corporate resources while keeping editorial autonomy under Ryan Block and then Joshua Topolsky. The low point is the May 2007 bogus Apple memo that briefly knocked about $4 billion off Apple's market value.
Weeks after the leaked 'AOL Way' plan for high-volume, pageview-driven content and AOL's $315 million HuffPost purchase, editor-in-chief Joshua Topolsky leads an eight-person exodus that becomes The Verge. Engadget cycles through Tim Stevens, interim leadership and Michael Gorman, folds in gdgt's product database, and loses its position as the undisputed tech-blog leader.
AOL shuts Joystiq, TUAW and Massively and folds their coverage into Engadget, then Verizon buys AOL for $4.4 billion. A December 2015 magazine-style redesign broadens the site beyond gadgets and draws hundreds of angry comments. AOL cuts 500 jobs in 2016 while Verizon pursues Yahoo.
Verizon closes its Yahoo purchase and combines it with AOL as Oath. Engadget becomes one brand among dozens, but editorial leadership steadies: Christopher Trout refocuses the site on its core beats in 2017 and Dana Wollman becomes editor-in-chief in September 2018. The parent's record is marked by the SEC's $35 million penalty over Yahoo's concealed breach.
Verizon writes down $4.6 billion of Oath's goodwill, renames it Verizon Media and cuts about 800 jobs in January 2019 and 150 more that December, then sells HuffPost. Engadget's newsroom under Wollman keeps producing award-winning features, but the parent is in retreat and investment is shrinking.
Apollo's funds complete a $5 billion buyout of Verizon Media and rename it Yahoo. Engadget expands deals and commerce coverage, launching a Deals newsletter in June 2022, and in November 2022 Yahoo signs a 30-year exclusive native-ad deal with Taboola covering all its properties.
Yahoo cuts more than 1,600 jobs, over 20% of its staff, as Apollo restructures. In October 2023 the Taboola deal goes live, putting Taboola's native ad units on Engadget. CNIL fines Yahoo EUR 10 million in December 2023 over cookies on Yahoo.com and Yahoo Mail.
Yahoo lays off about a third of Engadget's editorial team, including editor-in-chief Dana Wollman, the managing editor and the executive video producer. News is given a traffic-growth charter and reviews move under Yahoo's commerce leadership. Yahoo sells the old TUAW domain, which becomes an AI content farm, sells TechCrunch in March 2025, and Aaron Souppouris becomes editor-in-chief in 2025.
Yahoo's sale of Engadget to Static Media, signed in February, is reported on March 3, 2026 and closes that month. Static, a Novacap-backed owner of 30-plus web brands, keeps the editorial team, moves the site onto its shared infinite-scroll platform with Raptive-managed ads and a ZergNet widget in place of Taboola, and in August 2026 publishes a No-AI Writing Policy covering Engadget.
Alternatives
In-depth technology journalism emphasizing technical accuracy and expert analysis. Owned by Conde Nast but maintains strong editorial independence. Known for thorough, detailed coverage that respects reader intelligence. Free with ads or available with a premium subscription.
Leading digital-native tech publication with strong original reporting and investigative journalism under editor-in-chief Nilay Patel. Founded by former Engadget staffers in 2011. Significantly lower enshittification than Engadget. Moderate paywall ($7/month) but homepage and news remain free.
Dimensional Breakdown
Summaries below were written by AI agents based on the cited evidence. They are editorial interpretations, not independent research findings.
Dimension History
Timeline (49 events)
Peter Rojas Launches Engadget as Flagship Tech Blog
Former Gizmodo co-founder Peter Rojas launches Engadget as part of the Weblogs Inc. network founded by Jason Calacanis and Brian Alvey. Rojas serves as the sole writer and editor initially, covering consumer electronics news and reviews. The site quickly becomes the network's flagship property.
AOL Acquires Weblogs Inc. for $25 Million
AOL agrees to buy the Weblogs Inc. network, including Engadget, Autoblog, Joystiq and TUAW, for $25 million. The deal brings Weblogs' 85 blogs into AOL's free network. According to AOL, the properties attracted more than 30 million monthly web page views plus 25 million monthly RSS page views, and AOL said the blogs would keep operating without its editorial oversight.
Ryan Block Succeeds Peter Rojas as Editor-in-Chief
Ryan Block, who joined Engadget as a reporter in mid-2004 a few months after launch, takes over from founder Peter Rojas as editor-in-chief in 2007, as the site transitions from Weblogs Inc. to AOL ownership. Under Block, Engadget competes with Gizmodo for traffic and scoops.
Bogus Apple Email Wipes $4 Billion Off Apple Market Cap
Engadget publishes a hoax email purportedly from Apple's internal system claiming the iPhone launch would be delayed from June to October. Apple's stock drops from $107.89 to $103.42 in six minutes, erasing over $4 billion in market capitalization. Apple quickly confirms the email is fake, and the stock mostly recovers by end of day.
Ryan Block and Peter Rojas Depart to Co-Found Gdgt
Editor-in-chief Ryan Block announces his resignation from Engadget to co-found gdgt, a consumer electronics social networking site, with Peter Rojas. Associate editor Joshua Topolsky is promoted to editor-in-chief. The departure of both founders marks a generational shift in Engadget's editorial leadership.
Leaked 'AOL Way' Plan Reveals SEO-Driven Content Strategy
Business Insider obtains 'The AOL Way', a 58-page internal plan to drive down editorial costs while boosting pageviews. It calls for AOL editorial to write about 20,000 more stories a month, raise pageviews per story from 1,500 to 7,000, and have 95% of content driven by SEO. Engadget editors Paul Miller and Ross Miller later publicly cite the AOL Way when explaining their departures.
AOL Acquires Huffington Post for $315 Million
AOL purchases The Huffington Post for $315 million, creating the Huffington Post Media Group to oversee all content properties including Engadget. Arianna Huffington is named president and editor-in-chief of the new media group. Engadget, TechCrunch, and other AOL blogs are reorganized under this division.
Joshua Topolsky Leads Eight-Person Engadget Exodus That Becomes The Verge
Editor-in-chief Joshua Topolsky and managing editor Nilay Patel resign from Engadget. They join former Engadget editors Paul Miller, Ross Miller, Joanna Stern, Chris Ziegler, Justin Glow and Dan Chilton, eight in all, at SB Nation, where the group launches The Verge under Vox Media in November 2011. Paul Miller and Ross Miller had publicly blamed AOL's editorial direction and the 'AOL Way' when they left; sources told AllThingsD that Topolsky and Patel left mainly over the challenges of working inside a large corporation.
Tim Stevens Named New Editor-in-Chief After Mass Exodus
AOL appoints Tim Stevens as the new editor-in-chief of Engadget, replacing the departed Joshua Topolsky. Stevens, formerly the automotive editor, faces the challenge of rebuilding the editorial team after the loss of more than half a dozen senior staffers to The Verge.
The Verge Launches as Direct Engadget Competitor
The Verge launches under Vox Media with former Engadget editor-in-chief Joshua Topolsky and his team. The new publication directly competes with Engadget for tech news readership, establishing itself as the editorial standard Engadget's departing staff believed they could no longer achieve under AOL.
AOL Acquires Gdgt and Integrates Into Engadget
AOL acquires gdgt, the consumer electronics review site co-founded by original Engadget founders Peter Rojas and Ryan Block. The acquisition brings product database features, pricing comparison engines, and aggregated review technology that will be merged into Engadget in a November 2013 redesign.
Tim Stevens Departs as Editor-in-Chief Under Unclear Circumstances
Tim Stevens abruptly steps down as editor-in-chief after two years. AOL asserts he resigned, though sources are unclear whether he was terminated. Gdgt's Marc Perton is installed as interim executive editor. The sudden departure marks another period of editorial instability.
AOL CEO Tim Armstrong Publicly Fires Employee on Conference Call
During a conference call with over 1,000 employees discussing Patch layoffs, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong publicly fires creative director Abel Lenz for taking a photo. The incident, which is recorded and leaked, raises concerns about AOL's corporate culture and governance across all its properties including Engadget.
Engadget Redesign Merges Gdgt Product Database Features
A major site redesign integrates gdgt's device database, pricing comparison engines, and aggregated review scores into Engadget. Personal profiles, product profiles, and comparison tools are added, repositioning Engadget as a broader consumer electronics resource alongside CNET and Consumer Reports.
Michael Gorman Named Editor-in-Chief
Michael Gorman is named editor-in-chief with Christopher Trout as executive editor. Gorman is the site's fifth editor-in-chief in ten years, after Peter Rojas, Ryan Block, Joshua Topolsky and Tim Stevens, following a period under executive editor Marc Perton after Stevens's departure.
NAD Finds Taboola Native Ad Labels Misleading to Consumers
The National Advertising Division recommends that Taboola make its sponsored-content disclosures more noticeable, finding that leads such as 'Recommended for you' and 'You May Like' imply the linked content is editorial. NAD finds the 'Sponsored Content' disclosures, in small gray font in the widget's upper-right corner, are not clear and conspicuous. The decision applies to Taboola widgets on all sites that carry them.
AOL Shuts Down Joystiq, TUAW, and Massively; Folds Into Engadget
AOL confirms that gaming site Joystiq is closing and Apple blog TUAW is being folded into Engadget as part of a reorganization; the closures of Joystiq, Massively, WoW Insider and TUAW take effect after February 3, 2015, with Joystiq continuing as a channel inside Engadget. AOL lays off about 150 people in the same reorganization, mostly in sales. The closures eliminate dedicated coverage verticals that readers had relied on for years.
Verizon Announces Acquisition of AOL for $4.4 Billion
Verizon announces it will purchase AOL for $4.4 billion, or $50 per share, to build out its mobile video and advertising strategy. The deal includes all AOL content properties: Engadget, TechCrunch, The Huffington Post, and others. Engadget enters its second era of corporate ownership.
Magazine-Style Redesign Broadens Focus, Draws Reader Backlash
Engadget relaunches with a magazine-style homepage and new sections (Gear, Gaming, Culture, Entertainment, Science) reflecting a broader editorial focus beyond gadgets. Readers react angrily, with more than 550 comments on the announcement post according to one contemporaneous blogger. Engadget later reports that direct traffic grew 43% from Q1 2015 to Q1 2016 and video views 78%.
AOL Confirms Layoffs as Verizon Cuts Overlap Between Companies
AOL confirms post-acquisition layoffs as Verizon eliminates overlap between the two companies. Under 2% of AOL's 6,000 employees are affected, with cuts primarily in the dial-up division, marketing, and social media. The consolidation signals Verizon's intent to reduce costs across its new media properties.
AOL Lays Off 500 Employees as Verizon Pursues Yahoo
AOL cuts 500 jobs, more than 5% of its global workforce, while Verizon's Yahoo takeover is pending; AOL says the layoffs are independent of the Yahoo deal. Most cuts come in corporate units, and CEO Tim Armstrong says the reorganization shifts staff toward mobile, video and data after AOL added more than 1,500 employees through acquisitions.
Christopher Trout Named Editor-in-Chief, Expands Editorial Scope
Christopher Trout is announced as the new editor-in-chief, with Dana Wollman promoted to executive editor. Trout's letter says Engadget will narrow its focus back to its areas of deepest expertise (consumer electronics, gaming and entertainment) and be more selective about culture and science coverage, after years of broadening beyond gadgets.
Verizon Completes Yahoo Acquisition, Creates Oath
Verizon closes its $4.48 billion acquisition of Yahoo (reduced from $4.83 billion after data breach disclosures) and combines it with AOL under a new subsidiary called Oath. Engadget, TechCrunch, HuffPost, Yahoo News, and dozens of other properties are united under one media umbrella targeting $10 billion annual revenue by 2020.
SEC Fines Yahoo $35 Million for Concealing 2014 Data Breach
The SEC announces that Altaba (formerly Yahoo) will pay a $35 million penalty for failing to disclose the 2014 breach of hundreds of millions of user accounts for more than two years. It is widely reported as the first SEC penalty against a public company for failing to disclose a cyber breach. Yahoo's security team knew of the intrusion within days, but the company did not share the information with its auditors or outside counsel.
Dana Wollman Becomes First Female Editor-in-Chief
After seven and a half years at Engadget, Dana Wollman is named editor-in-chief, the first woman to hold the position. Her introductory letter points to the site's recent expansion into a daily show, a Webby-nominated documentary series, long-form investigations and the 2017 Engadget Experience event, and to 42% year-over-year audience growth in August 2018.
Tim Armstrong Exits as Oath CEO After Failed Media Strategy
AOL's Tim Armstrong, who had overseen the company's content strategy since 2009 and was instrumental in the Oath vision, departs as CEO of Verizon's media subsidiary. K. Guru Gowrappan takes over. Armstrong's departure signals the failure of Verizon's ambitious plan to compete with Google and Facebook in digital advertising.
Verizon Takes $4.6 Billion Writedown on Oath
Verizon announces a $4.6 billion goodwill impairment charge on Oath, effectively writing off nearly all the value of its AOL and Yahoo acquisitions. Oath's goodwill balance of $4.8 billion is virtually eliminated. Verizon admits its media strategy failed to compete with Google and Facebook, with Oath's market share falling from 4.1% to 3.3% in 2018.
Verizon Kills Oath Brand, Renames to Verizon Media Group
Verizon retires the widely mocked Oath brand, renaming its media subsidiary Verizon Media Group effective January 8, 2019, a week after telling regulators it was writing down $4.6 billion of Oath's goodwill. Weeks later, on January 22-23, Verizon Media announces it will cut about 7% of its workforce (roughly 750-800 jobs).
HuffPost Lays Off Staff as Verizon Media Cuts 7% of Workforce
HuffPost lays off about 20 employees, eliminating entire opinion and health sections, as part of Verizon Media's broader 7% workforce reduction. The cuts affect approximately 750-800 employees across all media brands. The layoffs demonstrate the cascading impact of Verizon's failed media strategy on editorial content quality.
Second Round of Verizon Media Layoffs Cuts 150 More Jobs
Verizon Media lays off about 150 people in the US, around 1.4% of its roughly 10,500 staff, after cutting about 800 in January. Its brands include Yahoo, AOL, TechCrunch and HuffPost; CNN reports it is unclear which brands are affected. The continued cuts reflect Verizon's ongoing retreat from its media ambitions.
Verizon Sells HuffPost to BuzzFeed, Begins Media Divestiture
Verizon sells HuffPost to BuzzFeed for an undisclosed amount, taking a $119 million loss on the deal. The sale signals Verizon's complete retreat from media ambitions and foreshadows the eventual sale of its remaining media properties including Engadget. Verizon had acquired HuffPost as part of the AOL deal in 2015.
Vice Investigation Finds Taboola Chumboxes Spread Disinformation
Vice reports that Taboola, Outbrain and RevContent content-recommendation 'chum boxes' carry political disinformation and conspiracy content alongside clickbait on news sites. An ad-industry executive quoted in the piece argues that because these firms charge per click, they have every incentive to make recommendations as clickbaity and divisive as possible.
Verizon Sells Media Division to Apollo for $5 Billion
Verizon announces the sale of its media group, including Yahoo, AOL, Engadget and TechCrunch, to Apollo Global Management for about $5 billion, well below the roughly $8.9 billion Verizon spent on AOL ($4.4 billion) and Yahoo ($4.5 billion). Verizon retains a 10% stake. The deal is Engadget's third change of corporate ownership, after AOL and Verizon.
Apollo Completes Acquisition, Renames Company Yahoo
Apollo Global Management completes its $5 billion acquisition of Verizon Media ($4.25 billion cash plus $750 million in preferred interests), renaming the company Yahoo. Apollo-managed funds own 90% and Verizon 10%. Guru Gowrappan remains CEO at closing; on September 10, Apollo names former Tinder CEO Jim Lanzone as Yahoo's next CEO, effective September 27.
Engadget Launches Deals Newsletter as Commerce Coverage Grows
Engadget's senior commerce editor announces a weekly Engadget Deals newsletter, two years after launching the @EngadgetDeals Twitter account. The post says the site has covered tech sales in earnest for a few years and now has a dedicated homepage spot for deals, alongside reviews, buying guides and gift guides.
Yahoo Signs 30-Year Exclusive Advertising Deal with Taboola
Yahoo enters a 30-year exclusive commercial agreement with Taboola to power native advertising across all Yahoo digital properties, including Engadget. Yahoo receives a 24.99% stake in Taboola and a board seat. The partnership is projected to generate approximately $1 billion in annual revenue for Taboola. The deal locks Engadget into chumbox-style native advertising for three decades.
Yahoo Lays Off 1,600+ Employees, Over 20% of Workforce
Yahoo announces it will cut more than 1,600 employees — over 20% of its workforce — as it restructures its advertising technology division. The company shuts down its supply-side platform and native advertising offerings, pivoting to emphasize its demand-side platform. CEO Jim Lanzone describes the moves as 'sunsetting' underperforming businesses.
Taboola Yahoo Deal Goes Live Across All Properties
Taboola's 30-year Yahoo partnership goes live: Yahoo's native ad units across all of its digital properties, including Engadget at the time, are now sold through Taboola, while Yahoo keeps selling its own display ads. Taboola says the deal adds about $1 billion a year to its revenue.
CNIL Fines Yahoo EUR 10 Million for Cookie Consent Violations
France's data protection authority CNIL fines Yahoo EMEA Limited EUR 10 million for depositing about 20 advertising cookies on Yahoo.com visitors' devices without consent, affecting more than 5 million people over 21 months. CNIL also finds Yahoo Mail users could not withdraw cookie consent without losing access to their email. The decision, dated December 29, 2023, is published January 18, 2024.
Engadget Lays Off One-Third of Staff Including Editor-in-Chief
Yahoo lays off about 10 Engadget staffers, roughly a third of the editorial team, including editor-in-chief Dana Wollman, managing editor Terrence O'Brien and executive video producer Brian Oh. The team is split into 'News and Features', led by Aaron Souppouris, and 'Reviews and Buying Advice', overseen by Yahoo's senior director of commerce content. The Verge characterized the shift as aimed at things like Google traffic, SEO, commerce and affiliate revenue.
Leaked Memo Details Engadget's Split Into News and Commerce-Led Reviews Teams
Journalist Max Tani posts the memo Engadget general manager Sarah Priestley sent to staff announcing the layoffs. It sets the News and Features team's 'main charter' as 'traffic growth through high-quality, timely coverage' and puts the Reviews and Buying Advice team under Yahoo's commerce content leadership, institutionalizing the link between commerce revenue and product coverage.
Engadget Marks 20th Anniversary a Week After Mass Layoffs
Engadget turns 20 on March 2, 2024, having had eight editors-in-chief and seven parent organizations. The anniversary post notes that the previous Friday the parent company laid off several staff, including editor-in-chief Dana Wollman and managing editor Terrence O'Brien, and that the site has no editor-in-chief. The milestone underscores the contrast between the site's early editorial ambitions and its current state.
Former TUAW Domain Resurfaces as AI Content Farm
TUAW, the Apple blog that AOL shut down in 2015 and whose coverage was absorbed into Engadget, reappears as an AI-generated content farm. Yahoo sold the TUAW domain to Web Orange Limited, which populated it with AI-written articles using bylines of former TUAW staffers — including writers who hadn't worked there since 2009 — with AI-generated profile photos. Engadget reports on the controversy.
Yahoo Sells TechCrunch to Regent Investment Firm
Yahoo sells TechCrunch, its sister tech news publication alongside Engadget, to investment firm Regent for an undisclosed amount, keeping a small stake. The sale follows Regent's acquisition of Foundry (PCWorld, Macworld) a day earlier. TechCrunch editor-in-chief Connie Loizos says Yahoo sold because TechCrunch's 'DNA is simply different' from a portfolio focused on news aggregation.
Yahoo Faces Class Action Over ConnectID User Tracking
A class action filed in federal court in New York alleges that Yahoo's ConnectID, an email-based identifier launched in 2020, tracks users across websites and apps without their knowledge or consent, working around cookie and mobile-identifier controls. The complaint says Yahoo combines ConnectID data with other information to build comprehensive user profiles for ad targeting. A second suit (Caplan v. Yahoo) follows in the same court.
Conseil d'Etat Upholds CNIL's EUR 10 Million Cookie Fine on Yahoo
France's Conseil d'Etat rejects Yahoo EMEA's appeal and confirms the EUR 10 million fine CNIL imposed in December 2023 for placing advertising cookies without consent and pressuring users not to withdraw consent. The court rules that cookie enforcement falls under national ePrivacy powers, that Yahoo is responsible for partners' cookies set via its site, and that the fine is proportionate given about five million affected French visitors. The case concerned Yahoo.com and Yahoo Mail, Engadget's parent at the time.
Yahoo Sells Engadget to Static Media in Quiet Divestiture
Yahoo sells Engadget to Static Media in a deal signed in early February 2026 and scheduled to close later in March; terms are not disclosed. Yahoo says the move reflects its focus on core brands and includes a broader partnership with Static Media. The sale follows Yahoo's 2025 sale of TechCrunch and completes Yahoo's exit from running tech newsrooms.
Static Media Announces Engadget Acquisition, Pledges to Keep Editorial Team
Static Media formally announces its acquisition of Engadget from Yahoo, adding it to a portfolio of 32 brands with more than 220 million monthly visits, alongside tech and auto sites SlashGear, Jalopnik and BGR. Static says it plans to keep Engadget's current editorial team, continue investing in the brand and expand its reviews and event coverage. Terms are not disclosed.
Static Media Publishes No-AI Writing Policy Covering Engadget
Static Media publishes a No-AI Writing Policy across its 32 brands, including Engadget: it does not accept or publish articles or reviews written by generative AI, all content must be written by an identifiable human writer and reviewed by human editors, and using AI to fabricate quotes, sources or statistics is prohibited. Static says its editorial team of more than 1,100 writers and editors publishes about 12,500 original articles a month.
Evidence (51 citations)
D1: User Value Erosion
D2: Business Customer Exploitation
D3: Shareholder Extraction
D4: Lock-in & Switching Costs
D5: Twiddling & Algorithmic Opacity
D6: Dark Patterns
D7: Advertising & Monetization Pressure
D8: Competitive Conduct
D9: Labor & Governance
D10: Regulatory & Legal Posture
Scoring Log (7 entries)
Checked 95 items + prose. 53 verified, 29 corrected (7 date-only), 10 re-sourced, 3 removed. Invented: evidence[42] GadgetReview 'fake testing in 8 Engadget review categories' (the GadgetReview page rates Engadget Medium Trust, 50.61%, with no fake-testing finding). Also fixed: AOL Way details/date, Verge exodus count (8 incl. Topolsky), Trout/Wollman letters misdescribed, 2016 AOL layoffs said to be unrelated to Yahoo deal, Oath rename vs Jan 2019 layoffs, Vice article date (2021), Lanzone vs Gowrappan at Apollo close, third (not fourth) ownership change, ConnectID 300M misstatement, D3 narrative price comparison, Wollman tenure vs 'no EIC over 3 years'. Ownership updated to Static Media.
50→42. Since Feb 2026: Yahoo's sale to Static Media (Novacap-backed rollup) reported 2026-03-03 and announced 2026-04-30 with a pledge to keep the editorial team; site moved to Static's platform (Raptive/AdThrive ads, ZergNet widget, infinite scroll; Taboola units gone); Aug 2026 No-AI Writing Policy; no post-sale layoffs found; Conseil d'Etat upheld Yahoo's CNIL fine (Oct 2025). Dims: D1 6→5 (correction: fake-testing claim removed; medium band, no AI content), D2 5→4 (event: Taboola gone, affiliate/sponsor labeling), D3 7→6 (event: Static took over and kept the team; PE-backed rollup), D5 5→4 (event: No-AI policy, Taboola replaced), D6 5→4 (event: Taboola gone; Yahoo cookie fines were Yahoo.com, not Engadget), D7 7→6 (event: Taboola gone, still programmatic + ZergNet + affiliate), D9 7→5 (recalibration: 2024 cut was ~1/3, not 50%+; no post-sale layoffs; contributor-heavy model fits 4-5). Eras: era 1 re-dated 2004-03-01→2004-03-02; era 2 re-dated →2005-10-06; era 3 re-dated →2011-03-12; era 4 re-dated 2015-02-01→2015-01-30 (Joystiq/TUAW closures) and relabeled 'AOL Consolidation, Verizon Sale'; era 5 re-dated →2017-06-13; era 6 re-dated 2019-01-01→2018-12-11 (writedown); era 7 kept; era 8 re-dated →2023-02-09; 'Commerce Pivot' re-dated 2026-02-23→2024-02-22; new era 'Static Media Rollup' 2026-03-03. Uncovered cells (Oath D7, Writedown D2/D5/D10, Apollo D1/D8) found no events and were scored down. Engadget Deals newsletter (2022) added for Apollo-era D7.
Removed typed-in site scores from alternatives text (they go stale on re-score; the page shows live scores). No other changes.
Added d10 narrative with Yahoo CNIL EUR 10M cookie fine, DPC GDPR investigation, Yahoo data breach $117.5M settlement, Taboola NAD disclosure findings