California; Overture to Buy Web Search Firm AltaVista; The $140- million deal reflects the depth of the downfall of the Internet pioneer, which was bought by CMGI for $2.3 billion in 1999 HOME EDITION

Pasadena-based Overture allows companies to buy favored placement in Internet search results, and it plans to incorporate AltaVista's patented search technology into its products, Chief Executive Ted Meisel said. Overture also plans to use AltaVista's Web site as a test bed for new search...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Los Angeles times
Main Author Jon Healey and P.J. Huffstutter
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, Calif Los Angeles Times Communications LLC 19.02.2003
Subjects
Acquisitions & mergers
Internet
Search engines
Strategic planning
Pasadena California
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Summary:Pasadena-based Overture allows companies to buy favored placement in Internet search results, and it plans to incorporate AltaVista's patented search technology into its products, Chief Executive Ted Meisel said. Overture also plans to use AltaVista's Web site as a test bed for new search technologies, he said. The deal calls for Overture to pay AltaVista's majority owner, Andover, Mass.-based Internet investment firm CMGI Inc., $60 million in cash and $80 million in stock, plus the assumption of some liabilities. Palo Alto-based AltaVista was the most prominent company in CMGI's portfolio, but executives decided to jettison the company because it didn't fit into its efforts to become profitable by focusing on a small number of businesses that can dominate their markets, CMGI Chief Executive George McMillan said. Overture's two biggest customers are Yahoo and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN, which vie with AltaVista for traffic. Nevertheless, Meisel said he didn't think the acquisition put Overture in a position of competing with its customers. He added that Internet searching is "a very young industry and a very young product" with a lot of room left for innovation.
ISSN:0458-3035