Once popular messaging service ICQ (short for I Seek You) will finally shut its operations on June 26, almost 28 years since its launch in 1996. The messaging platform peaked at nine million users and had 2.5 million daily active users. The number of users it was able to have globally was remarkable at the time, given that most users were on dial-ups and DSL internet was brand new, limited to a handful of countries.
AOL acquired ICQ from Mirabilis in 1998 for $407 million. In 2010, Mail.Ru, later renamed VK, acquired the platform because it was trendy in Russia. The company intended to modernize the app while making it cross-platform-compatible.
