Bigmouthmedia search engine news: aol

Yahoo! accelerates plans to establish office in Philippines

Fri, 02 May 2008 12:00:00 GMT

Search engine provider Yahoo! has sped up its plans to construct an office in the Philippines, Inquirer.net reports.

In an interview with the news provider, a Yahoo! executive revealed that the company's initiative to establish a base in the country - which was first disclosed earlier this year - has been accelerated.

Jojo Anonuevo, general manager of the Philippine operations of Yahoo!, stated: "We're laser-focused here in south-east Asia. What we're doing here will add value."

He went on to say: "The digital marketing industry is poised for growth in the Philippines. If we spend more effort, we can accelerate our traffic."

According to figures cited by Mr Anonuevo, the Philippines has in the region of 22 million internet users, with growth rates recorded at around 30 per cent a year.

The executive added that Yahoo!, which is headquartered in the US, is working on improving the experiences of its Filipino users.

He stated that this process involves deploying caching technology to improve the network traffic coming from local users.

Yahoo! is said to be looking for personnel to fill sales, marketing and technical positions for its office in the Philippines.

Meanwhile, another search engine provider recently making the news over plans to expand its services in Asia was AOL.

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AOL opens Taiwanese portal

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:00:00 GMT

Internet services company AOL has announced the launch of a dedicated web portal serving Taiwan.

The new site, which has been designed specifically to address the requirements of users in the country, combines a range of features, such as free email and instant messaging, with localised content in Chinese.

Commenting on the new offering, Maneesh Dhir, executive vice president of AOL International, stated: "People in Taiwan are among the world's most sophisticated internet users.

"Our goal is to deliver an experience that leverages the depth of our product and content offerings, tailored to the individual interests of online users in Taiwan."

Meanwhile, Norman Koo, AOL's vice president and general manager for Greater China, added that the launch of the new portal is "just the beginning" of the company's ongoing efforts to meet the needs of web users in Taiwan.

The site, which has been launched in beta, takes the total of country-specific AOL portals to 18, with Taiwan representing the first nation in East Asia to be offered the service.

Among the features of the site are web and image searches powered by Google and enhanced by AOL for the specific nature of the Chinese language.

Recently, it was revealed that AOL had acquired contextual tools provider Sphere Source. According to the firm, the move was part of its attempts to provide consumers with relevant content on the web.

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AOL acquires contextual search tool provider Sphere Source

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:00:00 GMT

Web services firm AOL has announced it has acquired Sphere Source, a provider of contextual tools that offer publishers content related to their news.

Under the terms of the arrangement, Sphere will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of AOL and will form part of its programming division.

Founded in September 2005 and based in San Francisco, Sphere provides a service that connects mainstream and conversational media, such as blogs, videos and photos.

The contextual results it produces are displayed in a pop-up window or an integrated widget that allows publishers to enhance their articles by incorporating related stories and blog posts.

Prior to purchasing Sphere, AOL had partnered with the company on AOL News and the myAOL service Mgnet.

Commenting on the new deal, Ron Grant, president and chief operating officer of AOL, stated: "Our focus at AOL is providing consumers [with] relevant content wherever they are on the web and Sphere's capabilities fit in perfectly with this effort.

"Not only will it let us enhance content on our own sites, it will let us distribute our content across Sphere's growing third-party publisher network."

Meanwhile, Tony Conrad, chief executive officer of Sphere, added that his firm is "delighted" to be joining forces with AOL.

He went on to say that AOL's properties and platforms will provide Sphere with the opportunity to reach publishing and news environments across the internet.

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AOL expands deal with Verizon

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 12:00:00 GMT

AOL has revealed it has expanded its deal with broadband and communications firm Verizon.

Under the terms of the deal, Verizon will become the official provider of advertising for AOL's online and mobile internet properties.

Verizon will use AOL's Platform-A digital ad agency network to sell its online and mobile advertising inventory.

The deal builds on an existing arrangement Verizon had with Third Screen Media, a mobile advertising firm which AOL acquired last year.

According to an AOL statement, "Platform-A's comprehensive services will drive the management and monetisation of Verizon's online and mobile advertising".

Platform-A will now be the only organisation that can represent Verizon's inventory and guarantee placement within the Verizon network.

Commenting on the deal, Lynda Clarizio, president of Platform-A, stated: "We're pleased to have the opportunity to work with a great partner like Verizon to manage and monetise their online and mobile advertising inventory.

"More wireless customers choose the Verizon brand than any other and Verizon has the fastest-growing fibre optic internet service in the country. We look forward to helping marketers reach the right people in engaging and measurable ways."

In related news, Platform-A ranked as the top US ad network in March, according to new figures produced by comScore.

Reportedly, the network reached 90.7 per cent of all web users in the country during the month. Meanwhile, nearest rival Yahoo! reached 85.3 per cent of internet surfers over the 31-day period.

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AOL-Yahoo! deal 'imminent'

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 12:00:00 GMT

In a bid to fend off Microsoft's takeover bid, search engine provider Yahoo! is closing in on a deal with AOL, according to sources.

Confirming a Wall Street Journal story, one insider told Reuters that under the terms of such a deal, Yahoo! would receive a cash investment from AOL's parent company Time Warner in exchange for a 20 per cent stake in the combined business.

The agreement, which would exclude AOL's dial-up internet access business, would reportedly value AOL at around $10 billion.

According to the source, Yahoo! would use the money provided by AOL to buy back millions of its own shares to boost its holdings and raise its stock prices.

Meanwhile, Greg Sterling, an analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence, stated that, were AOL and Yahoo! to combine, they may choose to make their instant messaging programs interoperable, USA Today reports.

He went on to say that both Yahoo! and AOL's strengths are in display advertising, adding: "Together, ad reps would have an easier time selling a large audience. It would give both a big boost."

Reportedly, the move to avoid a Microsoft takeover is part of a two-pronged strategy which would also see Yahoo! team up with Google to outsource some of its web search ad operations.

Under the deal, which was announced last week, Yahoo! will initiate a limited test of Google's AdSense for Search service.

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AOL buys Bebo for $850 million

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 12:00:00 GMT

Recent media attention may have been concentrating on AOL's talks with Yahoo! but the veteran web portal has just announced it is to buy social networking site Bebo for $850 million (£417 million) in cash.

The sum paid for Bebo by AOL, now a division of Time Warner, may seem tiny to some; after all, last year Microsoft bought just 1.2% of Facebook for a huge $240 million. But Bebo is no insignificant player in the social media world.

Research by comScore suggests that Bebo is the second most popular social network in Britain. And, according to the BBC, Bebo is the third biggest social networking site in the USA, coming just behind Facebook and MySpace. Altogether, the social network boasts 40 million members worldwide, each of whom view an average of 78 pages each day.

Many industry commentators have been speculating over who would buy Bebo for some months, even before AOL started talks with the site in September last year. Previous contenders have included Microsoft, Google and even Yahoo! - though current troubles most likely put the latter out of the race.

Randy Falco, AOL Chairman and CEO, commented:

"Bebo is the perfect complement to AOL's personal communications network and puts us in a leading position in social media.

"What drew us to Bebo was its substantial and fast-growing worldwide user-base, its vision of a truly social web, and the monetization opportunities that leverage Platform-A across our combined global audience. This positions us to offer advertisers even greater reach and marketers significant insights into the desires and needs of consumers."

AOL is clearly trying to transform itself back into a serious contender in the field of search and social media. Last week, the pioneer web portal announced its plans to launch at least 12 new websites in the next six months.

What's more, in February, AOL made two key acquisitions: buy.at, an independent affiliate network, and Goowy, a widget technology start-up that specialises in widget development and analytics applications.

But following the purchase of Bebo (if it passes competition watchdogs in the US and EU, that is), can Yahoo! still expect AOL to rescue it from the jaws of Microsoft? Stan Schroeder, posting on Mashable, thinks it's still a possibility. He claims:

"Since the speculated AOL-Yahoo deal was supposed to be a merger, and since Yahoo doesn't' have a product that's directly competing with Bebo (if you don't count Flickr, which is not a general-purpose social network) the fact that AOL just bought Bebo doesn't really mean that there's no way for this deal to happen. However, it definitely complicates things and I would say that the AOL-Yahoo deal now seems less likely than before."

AOL has certainly got itself noticed over the first quarter of 2008 - but whether or not it can maintain this momentum throughout the year is another question entirely. However, with Bebo - and perhaps Yahoo! - at the helm, the web veteran could finally pose a serious threat to Google's dominance.

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Murdoch confirms lack of interest in Yahoo! bid

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 12:00:00 GMT

News Corp chief executive Rupert Murdoch has indicated that his company is unwilling to make a bid for Yahoo! to help it fend off the advances of Microsoft.

Speaking at the annual Bear Stearns media conference yesterday (March 10th), Mr Murdoch said that the company was "not going to get into a fight with Microsoft" as the software giant "has a lot more money than [News Corp]".

The comments followed reports that News Corp and Yahoo! had been in talks over a possible merger between certain of the former's web-based assets - including MySpace - and Jerry Yang's company.

However, this news had been greeted with scepticism from investors and analysts on Wall Street, who said such a deal would be unlikely to meet the same level of value offered by Microsoft's $41.4 billion bid.

Yahoo! has been seen to be making efforts to seek out an alternative to a Microsoft takeover since the bid was first made.

Reuters reports that sources familiar with the matter indicated last week that Yahoo! is currently in talks with Time Warner over a possible merger with the latter's AOL business.

Google chief executive Eric Schmidt is also thought to have proposed a partnership with Yahoo! as one way of evading Microsoft's bid last month, the Guardian reports.

Such a collaboration could see Yahoo! outsourcing some of its advertising and search functions to Google while focusing on areas such as mobile programs, content sharing and social networking.

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Yahoo! and Time Warner are talking again

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:00:00 GMT

Yahoo! may have re-opened talks with Time Warner, but time may be running out for the search engine to develop a viable plan to counteract Microsoft's unsolicited offer.

It has been reported that Time Warner and Yahoo! stepped up negotiations as Yahoo! searches for realistic alternatives to a hostile takeover by Microsoft. The two companies have held discussions in the past, but had previously failed to team up due to differences over price. Talks were reinitiated when Yahoo! re-approached Time Warner recently.

The talks between the companies suggest the possibility of folding Time Warner's AOL internet unit into Yahoo! in exchange for a large minority stake in the combined company for Time, say sources speaking to The Wall Street Journal. The sources suggest that the companies could save $1 billion a year from such a proposal and that the proposed deal is being supported by Google, who have a 5% stake in AOL.

Yahoo! rejected Microsoft's £23bn offer, made on February 1, announcing that it undervalued their company, but the decision attracted much criticism and speculation - not least from a number of Yahoo!'s shareholders.

With Microsoft expected to propose candidates for Yahoo!'s board by March 14, Yahoo! is working to a tight deadline - although it may try to push the deadline back. It has been suggested that Microsoft will attempt a boardroom coup at Yahoo!, meaning the search engine is well advised to engage in talks concerning the potential takeover bid, something which may take place over the weekend.

The New York Times also reports that Yahoo! may be planning to postpone its annual meeting, a move that could either be seen as a way for the search pioneer to cut itself a little more space for manoeuvre or as a chance for Microsoft and Yahoo! to strike a friendly deal. However, it's possible that it won't be welcomed by Yahoo!'s investors and could even result in lawsuits from not only Microsoft, but also the shareholders themselves.

In addition to their talks with Time Warner, Yahoo! are also in discussion with News Corp, reportedly considering a potential deal which would see News Corp allowing Yahoo! to purchase MySpace in an exchange for a stake in the company.

However, many sources still consider it likely that Microsoft's advances will be ultimately successful as rivals will be unable to offer as much as Microsoft. Whether Yahoo! shareholders would be satisfied with a deal between Time Warner and Yahoo! remains to be seen but it's certainly something the search engine will have to take into consideration.

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AOL to launch at least 12 new websites

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 12:00:00 GMT

AOL is planning on starting at least a dozen new websites within the next six months, it has been revealed.

According to Bill Wilson, executive vice president of programming at AOL, by the end of this year, the firm may have beaten the 20 to 30 sites it introduced last year.

In a recent interview, Mr Wilson stated: "We want to be sure we are appealing to as many consumers as we can," Bloomberg reports.

He went on to highlight a number of the sites introduced by the firm last year in an attempt to go after niche interests, including Asylum - which is based on a men's lifestyle theme - and music site Spinner.

Mr Wilson would not, however, reveal the details of the new sites currently being planned by AOL.

Commenting on the firm's decision to expand the number of sites it runs, TechCrunch stated: "AOL sites still sit in a fairly healthy fourth place behind Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft.

"If improving their lot means going wide and niche to draw more people to AOL in an endeavour to sell more ads, it has the potential of working."

Recently, Time Warner chief executive officer Jeffrey Bewkes revealed that he is to split AOL's internet access business from the rest of the unit as part of a long-term bid to increase the value of the parent firm.

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US internet users 'conducted more than 10bn searches in January'

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 12:00:00 GMT

Internet users in the US conducted a combined total of more than ten billion searches using core search engines last month, according to new research.

Figures produced by comScore suggest that, during January, a total of 10.5 billion searches were carried out using the five main search engines, representing an increase of 8.9 per cent compared with December.

Additionally, it was found that Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, AOL and Ask.com all experienced growth in January of at least five per cent over the preceding month.

Proving most popular among internet users in the country, Google processed 6.1 billion searches, a rise of 9.1 per cent versus December.

This represents a marginal extension of the firm's share of core searches to 58.5 per cent.

Meanwhile, the next most used search engine was Yahoo!, which handled just over 2.3 billion search queries, up 5.5 per cent on the previous month and representing a share of 22.2 per cent.

Microsoft was identified as the third most popular search engine, dealing with a little over one billion searches and possessing a share of 9.8 per cent of total queries among the core providers.

The company experiencing the greatest percentage increase in terms of searches was found to be AOL, which saw its processing of queries rise by 16.5 per cent, followed by Ask.com at 14.6 per cent.

Research released earlier this week by comScore indicated that tax, politics, career and real estate sites all saw increased visits by US internet users during January.

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