Overture to buy AltaVista
 

Overture to buy AltaVista


By Stefanie Olsen
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
February 18, 2003, 1:56 PM PT


just in Overture Services plans to acquire search technology company AltaVista for $140 million in cash and stock, the latest sign of consolidation in the resurgent search business.
Pasadena, Calif.-based Overture, which auctions placement in search results to advertisers, said Tuesday it plans to bolster its commercial service with AltaVista's technology. Palo Alto, Calif.-based AltaVista, which is majority owned by CMGI, develops technology that crawls the Web and returns relevant search results in response to users' queries.

Overture will license the technology its customers, including Yahoo, MSN and others.

Overture also will use the AltaVista Web site to test new search services and marketing products for its advertisers. Overture said it plans to syndicate these products to its global distribution network, as well as to potential new partners.


The announced buyout follows Yahoo's recent acquisition of Inktomi, whose technology rivals that of AltaVista's.

Overture will pay AltaVista in Overture common stock currently valued at $80 million, plus $60 million in cash, and will assume certain of AltaVista's liabilities. The purchase, which is subject to customary approvals and other conditions, is expected to close in April and be accretive to Overture's earnings by mid-2004.



http://msnbc-cnet.com.com/2100-1023-...&subj=cnetnews

Well after this they'll probably have to raise minimum bid on spots to .20

Interesting. A lot of consolidation going on in the SE world.

Sex.Com still have minimum bids of $0.03 with no plan to raise them.

In addition we allow you to target what countries you want traffic from. We distribute your advertising to many other search engines including About.Com, Mamma.Com, and Kanoodle.com. Contact [email protected] or [email protected]

Alright looks my Lawsuit against Altavista is going to be file and persued now!

Waiting for this news now I come in and swoop the money!

(Don't fuck your employees cause it will come back to haunt you)

Make it a dollar and you've got a deal!

I'm guessing this is in response to Yahoo buying out Inktomi some weeks ago. In my opinion, I would like to see Overture lose some market share because of their strict policies, editors and their obscenely high minimum bid rates. It's a shame too because Altavista had a very large percentage of its traffic going to adult listings. How do you all feel about this?

Nice to see you posting here Gary. Cheers!
WG

Anything to change the way altavista is now can't be a bad thing.

good to know ... so I can finaly cash out of this dog tomorrow !!

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=cmgi&d=d

I remember the good old days when I had a lot of front page listings on alta vista:winkwink:

I see it as simply another nail in the coffin of the SEO game.

The coffin is getting close to being completely sealed... :feels-hot

WG

"I see it as simply another nail in the coffin of the SEO game. "

... agreed, so beside some spamfriendly european SEs and google ... what´s left ?

Once the coffin is fully sealed it will be buried. Over time some nice daisies will grow on the grave site.

rumour mill:

Microsoft may look to LookSmart

Meanwhile, Microsoft is said to be mulling options for its search-results provider: Inktomi.

MSN, Microsoft's Web access and content play, isn't expected to be too happy when it realizes its checks for Inktomi's Web search services are being cashed by Yahoo, financial analysts and industry executives say.

San Francisco-based LookSmart tops the replacement list because of its longtime relationship with Microsoft--LookSmart provides sponsorship listings and directory services to MSN. Financials analysts say a strong fourth quarter by LookSmart--revenue jumped 65 percent-could help seal the deal.

One sign that MSN may choose LookSmart came this week when MSN Search updated its navigation technology to serve up more results from LookSmart's directory over those from Inktomi. The move also may be a sign that MSN has its eye on profits. While both LookSmart and Inktomi sell admission into their indexes, LookSmart's results are proportionately more stacked with sponsors and MSN gets a cut of each click.

MSN representatives would only say that it's business as usual, and it would not comment on future partners. Yahoo spokeswoman Joanna Stevens said that the company is "fully committed" to Inktomi's search agreements. Looksmart could not be immediately reached for comment.

Others in the running include down-and-out search provider AltaVista, which is majority owned by CMGI. The company recently cashed in on its ninth of its nine lives, remolding its search service yet again. Still, it can't seem to get out of the woods after having cried wolf so many times.

Rumor has it that AltaVista is looking to get out of the enterprise search business, given that the company opted out of a major enterprise search survey by Gartner. Still, MSN could likely get a good purchase price for the ailing company.

"You never know with MSN whether they are in a building or buying mood, but either way they will be looking to replace Inktomi as soon as they can," said one industry insider, adding that "the search space is hotter than Charo!"

Another thing that came up recently was the purchase of Pyra Labs by Google, Pyra is the parent/ founding company of the powerful weblog publishing tool Blogger.

http://weblog.siliconvalley.com/colu...2.shtml#000802

I totally agree :(

very sad to see this ship sink....

Ok so yahoo is buying inktomi.

MSN is buying looksmart

Overture is buying altavista.

But all of their base are belong to google :winkwink: