Altavista Co

Overture Services Inc. announced a surprise deal Tuesday to acquire the pioneering Internet search firm AltaVista Co. for $140 million -- a fraction of the $2.3 billion the company fetched in 1999 at the height of the dot-com boom. Pasadena-based Overture allows companies to buy favored placement in Internet search results, and it plans to incorporate AltaVista's patented search technology into its products, Chief Executive Ted Meisel said.

AltaVista Co., a unit of CMGI Inc., said it cut 200 jobs, or about a third of its work force of about 600, to reduce expenses at the Internet search service after advertising revenue growth slowed. Meanwhile, CMGI said it was unlikely to meet previous earnings and revenue targets for fiscal 2001. The Andover, Mass.-based company said it would provide further guidance on March 31 when it reports fiscal second-quarter results.

Web search engine AltaVista will add an online newsstand to its main index today to make its results more topical and useful to surfers looking for up-to-the-minute information. With the new service, Palo Alto-based AltaVista will automatically produce the top stories related to search requests. Clicking on a news center at the top search page will provide an index of the latest online stories about the requested topic.

Internet search pioneer AltaVista Co. on Tuesday announced another shake up in its struggle to survive--trimming its rapidly dwindling work force about 30%, shuttering an office in Irvine and hiring a new chief executive. James Barnett, 43, most recently president of San Francisco-based MyFamily.com, will take over at AltaVista nearly a year after Rod Schrock resigned as chief executive just as the Internet economy began to collapse. AltaVista's owner, Andover, Mass.

AltaVista Co., a unit of CMGI Inc., said it will cut 225 jobs, or about a quarter of its work force, as the Internet search service seeks to become profitable before selling shares to the public. AltaVista will take a charge of about $7.5 million in the quarter ending Oct. 31 for the job cuts and for consolidating its four offices into one in Palo Alto, AltaVista Chief Executive Rod Schrock said. He said he expects the business to be profitable by Jan. 31.