Overture Services, Inc. and AltaVista Company yeterday signed a definitive agreement under which Overture will acquire AltaVista's business for $140 million in cash and stock. According to the
announcement, the acquisition will enable Overture to offer "a significantly enhanced Web search solution to portals, Internet service providers and other destination sites, as well as additional
marketing opportunities to the company's large base of advertisers." AltaVista's advanced algorithmic search technology, which crawls the Web and returns relevant search results in response to users'
queries, strategically complements Overture's market-leading technology in commercial search. Additionally, company officials said, AltaVista's website will allow Overture to test and refine new
products and services in a live setting, and its suite of search-related technology patents will help support Overture's entry into algorithmic search.
