Wednesday, March 2, 2005

Overture Sings Its Last Tune, Becomes Yahoo! Search Marketing

Yahoo's Pasadena-based Overture Services is officially being rebranded with the Yahoo brand. Yahoo said yesterday that it is rebranding the company as Yahoo! Search Marketing Solutions and will no longer be using the Overture name by the end of next quarter, except in Japan and Korea. Yahoo purchased Overture for over $1.3B in 2003. The Yahoo Search Marketing Solutions brand will include not only the sponsored/paid search services traditionally provided by Overture, but also its shopping and directory submission program and local sponsored search programs. The move follows Yahoo's recent rebranding of another Southern California acquisition, Launch Media, as Yahoo! Music. The name is the second name change in Overture's life, which started life as Goto.com.