In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “name of the israeli company that produced icq”. Today it says “israeli company that developed the icq instant messaging program”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-02. In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “name of the israeli company that produced icq”. Today it says “israeli company that developed the icq instant messaging program”.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
Mirabilis was the name of the Israeli company that produced ICQ , a popular instant messenger . Mirabilis was founded in 1996 by the four Israelis Arik Vardi , Yair Goldfinger , Sefi Vigiser and Amnon Amir , and was purchased by AOL less than two years later. Funding for Mirabilis came from Yossi Vardi , the father of founder Arik Vardi. A businessman, the elder Vardi funded Mirabilis when no others would. He travelled frequently promoting Mirabilis and was known for publicly stating the company's revenue goal was zero. ICQ grew rapidly virally as friends would encourage their friends to join so they could communicate to each other. This established a powerful network effect as prospective users strongly preferred the system where their friends were likely to be.1Despite having no revenue, AOL paid over $200 million to buy Mirabilis in roughly 1998 .2AOL ran ICQ and AIM ( AOL Instant Messenger ) as independent products, which helped to create an illusion of a competitive marketplace.3Eventually AIM and ICQ were merged, beginning in roughly 2001 . Mirabilis is now owned by Time Warner . v t e4
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 16428025.
The opening as it stood in 2010 3 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Mirabilis was the name of the Israeli company that produced ICQ , a popular instant messenger . Mirabilis was founded in 1996 by the four Israelis Arik Vardi , Yair Goldfinger , Sefi Vigiser and Amnon Amir , and was purchased by AOL less than two years later. Funding for Mirabilis came from Yossi Vardi , the father of founder Arik Vardi , and other investors. A businessman, the elder Vardi funded Mirabilis when no others would. He traveled frequently promoting Mirabilis and was known for publicly stating the company's revenue goal was zero . ICQ grew virally as friends would encourage their friends to join so they could communicate with each other. This established a powerful network effect as prospective users strongly preferred the system where their friends were likely to be. Despite Mirabilis having no revenue , AOL paid over $287 million in cash (and $400 million overall) to buy it on June 8, 1998. AOL ran ICQ and AIM ( AOL Instant Messenger ) as independent products, which helped to create an illusion of a competitive marketplace.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 334635761.
The opening as it stood in 2015 9 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Mirabilis is an Israeli company that developed the ICQ instant messaging program, a pioneer of online chatting that revolutionized communication over the Internet.Yair Goldfinger, serial entrepreneur / An intensely private technology angel, The Marker
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 610389143.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Mirabilis is an Israeli company that developed the ICQ instant messaging program, a pioneer of online chatting that revolutionized communication over the Internet. Yair Goldfinger, serial entrepreneur / An intensely private technology angel , The Marker
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 960018417.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Israeli technological company Mirabilis is an Israeli company that developed the ICQ instant messaging program, a pioneer of online chatting that revolutionized communication over the Internet.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1147589944.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Israeli technological company Mirabilis was an Israeli company that developed the ICQ instant messaging program, an early example of real-time communication over the Internet.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1231141515. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “name of the israeli company that produced icq”. Today it says “israeli company that developed the icq instant messaging program”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined between 2005 and 2025.
Then
name of the israeli company that produced icq
Now
israeli company that developed the icq instant messaging program
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
