Overture
Overture was a paid-search advertising company, formerly GoTo.com, acquired by YahooYahooYahoo is an internet brand founded by Jerry Yang and David Filo in 1994, with email, search, news, finance, sports, and advertising businesses. It developed from a web directory into a portal, underwent major acquisitions and security incidents, and sold its operating business in 2017, when the original listed company became Altaba. Apollo-managed funds acquired the brand’s operating business in 2021. Yahoo launched the AI answer service Scout in 2026.Open the full entry in 2003.
Contents6 sections
Key facts
1997–1998Incorporation and launch
The company incorporated in Delaware on September 15, 1997, and launched its service on June 1, 1998.[1]
October 8, 2001GoTo.com renamed
GoTo.com became Overture Services, changing its ticker from GOTO to OVER.[2]
Business model: Bidding and pay-per-click
Advertisers bid for search placement and paid when users clicked. Distribution partners included AOLAOLAOL is an American internet brand offering a news portal, email, and membership services. Its history dates to an online-services company founded in 1985.Open the full entry, MSN, and AltaVista.[2]
April 2003Search-technology acquisitions
It acquired Fast Search & Transfer’s web-search business on April 21 and completed the AltaVista acquisition on April 25.[1]
October 7, 2003Yahoo completes acquisition
Yahoo completed the acquisition, recording a total purchase price of approximately $1.7 billion.[3]