PASADENA, Calif., Sep 30, 2002 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Overture Services, Inc. (Nasdaq: OVER), the world’s leading provider of Pay-For-Performance search to Web sites across the Internet, today announced that it has extended and expanded its global search distribution agreements with Microsoft Corp.
Under the extensions, Overture will provide its search results to end-users of the MSN Search Pane and MSN sites through December 2003 and December 2004, respectively, in the U.S., Canada and the UK. The new agreements also have been expanded to include Germany and France. Additionally, the companies will test Overture’s search results in Japan on the MSN Search Pane and MSN site following Overture’s Japanese market launch, which has been accelerated to the fourth quarter of this year.
The MSN Search Pane agreement was due to expire at the end of September of this year, and the MSN Search agreement was due to expire in December 2003. Overture, which began its relationship with Microsoft in September 1998, expects no change to its July 25, 2002 forecast, including traffic acquisition costs, as a result of expanding this relationship.
“Overture is the market leader in Pay-For-Performance search and we are excited to extend our relationship with them,” said John Krass, general manager of MSN Search. “Overture’s focus on product quality and support of our long-term needs were key to furthering this relationship and expanding it into new markets.”
Search results on the MSN Search Pane and MSN Search will feature Overture’s top three Pay-For-Performance search listings — generated by its growing worldwide base of 67,000 advertisers — under the heading “Sponsored Sites.” Overture’s search listings are generated by advertisers who bid for placement on keywords relevant to their business. Overture’s editorial team carefully screens these listings before they are distributed to the company’s affiliate partner network of the Internet’s most popular destinations.
“MSN has been strategically important to Overture and we are extremely pleased to extend our long-term agreement with them in the U.S. and internationally,” said Bill Demas, senior vice president and general manager, affiliate business, Overture. “MSN is dedicated to providing a high-quality consumer search experience, and we look forward to working with them as they continue to evolve and grow their search product.”
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