 | |
 Former corporate headquarters in Columbus, Ohio | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Internet and communications |
| Founded | 1969 (as Compu-Serv Network, Inc.) |
| Headquarters | Formerly Columbus, Ohio, U.S. |
| Products | Online services, ISP |
| Parent | Yahoo! Inc. |
| Website | www |
CompuServe, Inc. (CompuServe Information Service, Inc., also known by its initialism CIS or later CSi) was an American online service, the first major commercial one in the world. It opened in 1969 as a timesharing and remote access service marketed to corporations. After a successful 1979 venture selling otherwise under-utilized after-hours time to Radio Shack customers, the system was opened to the public, roughly the same time as The Source.
H&R Block bought the company in 1980 and began to more aggressively advertise the service. CompuServe dominated the industry during the 1980s, buying their competitor The Source. At its peak during the early 1990s, CIS had an online chat system, message forums for a variety of topics, extensive software libraries for most personal computers, and a series of popular online games, including MegaWars III and Island of Kesmai. It introduced the GIF format for pictures and a system for exchanging GIF files.[1] In 1994, it was described as "the oldest of the Big Three information services (the others are Prodigy and America Online)".[2]
They remained a major influence through the mid-1990s, but the rise of the internet and more modern systems like AOL led to it losing marketshare. In 1997, 17 years after H&R Block had acquired it, the parent company announced its desire to sell CIS. A complex deal was devised with WorldCom acting as a broker, resulting in CIS being sold to AOL. In 2015, Verizon acquired AOL, including its CompuServe division. In 2017, after Verizon completed its acquisition of Yahoo!, CompuServe became part of Verizon's newly formed subsidiary Oath Inc. At the time, the remaining original parts of CIS were closed down, leaving it only as an internet service provider and a sub-brand of AOL. Oath was then divested as the new Yahoo! company in 2021.
- ^ "GIF". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved May 2, 2023.
- ^ Lewis, Peter H. (November 29, 1994). "The Compuserve Edge: Delicate Data Balance". The New York Times.