Mirabilis is an Israeli company that developed the ICQ instant messaging program, a pioneer of online chatting that revolutionized communication over the Internet.

History

Mirabilis was founded in July 1996 by Arik Vardi, Yair Goldfinger, Sefi Vigiser and Amnon Amir. Goldfinger, Visiger, Vardi and Amir met while working for a

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

software company, Zapa Digital Arts, that specialized in three-dimensional graphic tools for the Internet. In 1996, they left Zapa and began to toy with ideas for new Internet innovations. They created ICQ in less than two months, but had no funding.

Yossi Vardi Joseph "Yossi" Vardi ( he, יוסי ורדי, born September 2, 1942) is an Israeli entrepreneur and investor. He is one of Israel's first high-tech entrepreneurs. For over 47 years he has founded and helped to build over 85 high-tech companie ...

, the father of Arik Vardi and one of the founders of

Israel Chemicals ICL Group Ltd. (Hebrew: איי.סי. אל. גרופ בע"מ) (formerly Israel Chemicals Ltd., ICL) is a multi-national manufacturing concern that develops, produces and markets fertilizers, metals and other special-purpose chemical products. I ...

, agreed to invest a few hundred thousand dollars to develop the technology.An artist for the high-tech age
/ref> Mirabilis was established in a small apartment in San Jose, California, where Internet access was cheaper. ICQ grew as people encouraged their friends to join so they could communicate with each other. This established a powerful

network effect In economics, a network effect (also called network externality or demand-side economies of scale) is the phenomenon by which the value or utility a user derives from a good or service depends on the number of users of compatible products. Net ...

as prospective users strongly preferred the system where their friends were likely to be. It was purchased by

America Online AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo! Inc. ...

(AOL) for $407 million in 1998. AOL sold ICQ to Digital Sky Technologies for $187.5 million on April 28, 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mirabilis (Company) 1998 disestablishments in Israel Companies disestablished in 1998 AOL Defunct computer companies of Israel Software companies of Israel Mergers and acquisitions of Israeli companies Israeli companies established in 1996 Defunct companies of Israel

History

See also

References