Overture continues to solidify its reputation
Overture Inc., previously known as GoTo and funded by Idealab, posted a strong third-quarter thanks to a strong jump in revenue, according to this Wall Street Journal story (subscription required):
Overture, which provides paid search listings to partners such as Microsoft Corp's MSN, reported net income of $16.9 million, or 28 cents a share, compared with earnings of $9 million, or 15 cents a share, for the same period last year. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call expected earnings of 20 cents a share.
Revenue more than doubled to $172.7 million, from $72.5 million a year earlier.
...The paid-listings sector is one of the only growth areas in the depressed Internet advertising business these days, and Overture has been reaping the benefits of the hot market for the last year.
...Chief Executive Ted Meisel said in a conference call that the paid listings market is becoming crowded, but argued that Overture is leading the pack. Popular search engine Google Inc. launched a rival paid listings service last February, and a slew of smaller paid search engines offer similar services.