Overture Continues Overseas Momentum With Expansion Into French Marketplace
World Leader in Pay-For-Performance Search Also Signs Multi-Year Agreement with Infoseek Japan
PASADENA, Calif., Sep 12, 2002 -- Overture Services, Inc. (Nasdaq:OVER), the world`s leading provider of Pay-For-Performance search to Web sites across the Internet, today announced the opening of its French market search network. Building on its success in the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany, Overture`s newest marketplace will reach more than 40 percent of France`s Internet users at launch, and will become France`s largest Pay-For-Performance search provider by the end of the year as additional, already signed, affiliate partnerships become fully implemented. In addition, the company announced that it had signed a new agreement with Infoseek Japan.
With the opening of Overture`s newest European operation, businesses with offerings relevant to the French-speaking marketplace are now able to bid for placement in the company`s French search results. These Pay-For-Performance results are then distributed to Overture`s homepage in France, as well as throughout the company`s rapidly expanding network of affiliate partners. Overture`s listings provide French consumers with access to Overture`s highly relevant French language search results and help them find the products and services for which they are searching.
At launch, Overture`s French affiliate partners included the top three French Internet Service Providers, AOL.FR, Tiscali France and Deutsche Telekom subsidiary Club-Internet, as well as highly trafficked portals such as Lycos France and other prominent sites such as ZDNet.fr and Copernic. Overture`s French advertiser base already includes important French advertisers such as FNAC, La Francaise des Jeux, Vogue, Aquarelle, Kelkoo and Promovacances.
In addition, Overture announced today that its wholly owned Japanese subsidiary, Overture K.K., has signed a multi-year agreement with Infoseek Japan K.K., one of the most popular destinations in the Japanese Internet market. Under the terms of the agreement, Overture will provide its editorially reviewed search listings to Infoseek when Overture launches in that market. Earlier this year, the company appointed Shigehito Suzuki as president of Overture K.K. and announced agreements with NTT-X, which operates the goo Internet portal, as well as Lycos Japan.
"The steps we`ve taken today in Europe and Asia demonstrate the continued momentum that Overture`s successful business model is able to sustain internationally," said Johannes Larcher, general manager, Overture International. "We`re excited that we have launched our French marketplace with several major affiliate partners as well as a number of meaningful advertisers with offerings for the French market. Moreover, our new partnership with Infoseek Japan is further validation of the superior quality and value that we`re able to offer our partners."
About Overture
Overture (Nasdaq:OVER) is the world leader in Pay-For-Performance search on the Internet. The company created the market for Pay-For-Performance search by redefining how businesses market online. In the second quarter of 2002, Overture facilitated 515 million paid introductions on a worldwide basis between consumers and its approximately 67,000 advertisers, who bid for placement on relevant search results and pay Overture only when a consumer clicks on their listing. Following a rigorous screening for user relevance by Overture`s 100-person editorial team, the company distributes its search results to tens of thousands of sites across the Internet, including AltaVista, MSN, Lycos and Yahoo! making it the largest Pay-For-Performance search and advertising network on the Internet. Overture is based in Pasadena, California, with offices in New York and San Francisco, and subsidiary offices in the UK, Germany, France, Ireland and Japan. For more information, visit www.overture.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements include without limitation statements that Overture will launch in Japan in the first quarter of 2003; that potential Web site partners (in the U.S. and internationally) and their users will want to use Overture search results, that advertisers and businesses in these markets will want to participate in Overture`s search results by seeking enhanced placement in the search results and the ability of these transactions to generate meaningful revenue. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among others, Overture`s products and technologies may not successfully work with those of Overture`s or other third parties in the Japanese and French markets, the launch of Overture in France and/or Japan may not happen in a timely manner or may not happen at all, the implementation may not be successful or generate revenue for Overture or yield economic benefits to Overture or our Japanese and French partners, the risk that Overture`s advertisers and businesses may not want traffic from Overture`s Japanese and French partners or users may not click on Overture`s search results. For a discussion of other risks that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from such forward-looking statements, see (i) the discussion of "Risks That Could Affect Our Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in Overture`s 10-Q filing with the SEC for the period ended June 30, 2002. Overture undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this press release.
Overture is the trading name in France of Overture S.A.R.L., which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Overture Services, Inc.
Overture is the trading name in Japan of Overture K.K., which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Overture Services, Inc.
Overture and Pay-For-Performance are service marks of Overture Services, Inc.
CONTACT:
Overture Services, Inc.
Al Duncan, 626/685-5714 (Media)
al@overture.com
Laurie Berman, 626/229-5368 (Investors)
laurie.berman@overture.com
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