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Yahoo Buys Overture for $1.63 Billion
securitas writes "Today Yahoo announced it plans to buy search technology company Overture for $1.63 Billion. The move is seen as a way to compete with rivals like Google and MSN, especally in the paid search and advertising category. This takeover occurs following this article about Google and Overture's race to secure partners for its paid search advertising. Other reoprts at CNN Money, ZDNet/CNet, AP via the Washington Post, Reuters, Bloomberg and Dow Jones via Yahoo. Press release at Overture and Yahoo."
Anyways I remember with Yahoo was "partnered" with altavista and it became big enough to be it's own search, hell I remember there being a "search more..." that would link to hotbot and other search engines of the day. Then there was the "partnership" with google, who became big and started to innovate after yahoo promoted them.
I think Yahoo needs to decide if it wants to be a portal or a search engine, because it's trying to be a one-stop-shop. You got games, music, movies, stock, travel, auctions, email, directions, and the kitchen sink. Is ad revenue really that big for these companies?
I stopped using yahoo when I realized that google found what I needed quicker with more precise search words. In essence I switched from yahoo to google because google was better.
Innovate don't just buy out the small fish, that practice is really old and sort of annoying.
Ignore the "p2p is theft" trolls, they're just uninformed
Yahoo should have saved its pennies. Sure, buying Overture improves its position in the paid placement portion of the search market, but what Yahoo really needs is a search function that is on par with Google. People have been defecting from using Yahoo as their primary search engine for years, and they're not about to come back unless Yahoo can offer search results that are comparable to Google.
This acquisition isn't likely to help Yahoo do what it needs most: better searching. Until they achieve better search results, people are going to continue to defect to Google and its brethren.
I don't really use Google because it returns better results. I mean, it returns pretty good results. I manage to find what I need. But I really use Google because, while they do have advertising, their advertising is not obnoxious. It doesn't pop-up, blink, animate, or pretend to be legitimate search results or articles. It *does* occasionally actually pertain to what I'm looking for, as opposed to Yahoo's continued insistance that I need to lose weight and find a man... using, of course, the insanely-expensive Ediets and Yahoo! Personals.
So, in the end, Google would win even if it took me a few minutes longer to find what I wanted, because I can *bear* spending a few minutes on Google. Ten seconds on Yahoo, and my eyes are bleeding.
According to this morning's Wall Street Journal, what we are seeing right now with the NASDAQ is consistent with previous boom and bust investment cycles. It seems that there is a big runup, a big fall, and about 2.5 to 3 years later, a revisiting of the now-despised investments. Eventually, that residual boom dies off too. The expert they cited in the story figures the NASDAQ will peak at around 2400, well above its current 1750-ish level.
Before this is modded offtopic, what this means is that Yahoo!, which has enjoyed a tremendous runup in this recent boom now has some cash to invest. Looks like they are trying to do some expansion like back in the good ol' days when we had AOL buying Time Warner. Look for some other mergers and acquistions unless or until this boomlet ends.
In principio erat Verbum.
This is the latest in a series of buyout announcements that have come along in the last few weeks. It looks like the business community is preparing for economic recovery and these deals are meant to position themselves all the better for it. Most significantly, these deals are coming from several different industries:
Peoplesoft & JD Edwards (software)
Oracle & Peoplesoft (software)
Lehman Brothers & Neuberger Berman (finance)
Yellow Freight & Roadway (trucking)
Boise Cascade & Office Max (office products)
Let's see what the next few months bring, but the mood is definitely shifting.
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I never heard anyone who wasn't in a Yahoo commercial use Yahoo as a verb. Ever.
mainly because they have the usenet archives. There's just so much information there, that you can't get anywhere else.
Also, it really helps that they don't have irritating ads, and that it renders great in lynx.
How on earth is Yahoo!'s gonna compete with that? Seriously, I'd like to know. By using a state-of-the-art search engine? That's not going to cut it, not by a long shot.
I currently use overture to advertise one of my online products. The fact is it would take so long to get my page up on the search rankings that I would miss loads potential revenue for people doing a search for my product. Using overture it costs me $.10 - 1.50 per click depending on the search but the coverage is really good. I pop up on sites I didnt even know existed and I get more downloads then I expected. It is a sad fact but this is the direction the web is going to go. You will have to pay to be seen on the internet or hope that you get the 20,000+ hits to your website to even start to rank in the search list.
I think the real question is what will Yahoo! do with all the search engines it now has. If I remember correctly, Yahoo! bought Inktomi not too long ago. Add Overture + FAST/Alltheweb + AltaVisa...
It seems like the market is consolidating into Google vs. Yahoo! vs. Microsoft (There have been rumours of Microsoft developing its own algorithm-based search engine) and couple of other players like AskJeeves.