[EAS]AltaVista's Sad Fall

[pjk]

Subject:   AltaVista's Sad Fall

(from Edupage, February 19, 2003)

SEARCH-ENGINE FIELD CONTINUES TO SHRINK
Less than two months after Yahoo announced its purchase of Inktomi,
Overture said it will acquire AltaVista from CMGI Inc. for $140
million. In 1999, Compaq Computer Corp. sold AltaVista to CMGI for
$2.3 billion, but since then the search engine's early prominence has
fallen significantly. Overture, which currently sells paid listings,
said the acquisition of AltaVista will allow it to offer search-engine
capabilities to its customers, which include Internet service
providers and portals, including Yahoo. The AltaVista Web site will
also provide Overture with a tool for testing its new products,
according to the company.
Wall Street Journal, 18 February 2003 (sub. req'd)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB104560569970359463,00.html

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AltaVista, which once reigned supreme as now does Google, has dropped
from $2.3 billion to $140 million. A lot of money got 'redistributed.'
Keep in mind that even Google only 'scratches the surface" of the Web,
<http://jove.eng.yale.edu/pipermail/eas-info/2001/000394.html>.

   --PJK