here's the whole piece. SEEK has a competitor and keep eye on OZEMY which has search engine too. it's reached new heights today on no news.
Netscape Said To Be Leaning Toward Infoseek For Partnership
By Joelle Tessler and Mark Boslet
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Netscape Communications Corp. (NSCP) appears to be favoring a partnership with Infoseek Corp. (SEEK) to power its Netscape-branded search and directory service in a deal that could bring Netscape $50 million to $60 million in payments over two years, sources said.
But the negotiations are still ongoing, and sources said Inktomi Corp. -
which licenses its search technology to other companies on an original equipment manufacturer basis - is also vying for the contract. Inktomi already licenses its technology to Netscape's arch rival Microsoft Corp. (MSFT).
While the choice of Infoseek as a partner would not come as a huge surprise since the search engine is already dependent on Netscape for about one-third of its traffic, the terms of the deal could be somewhat unusual.
Although Netscape would license Infoseek's technology to power its search service, Infoseek would wind up paying Netscape for traffic from its site. After the payment to Netscape is complete, Netscape would retain access to Infoseek's search technology, said analysts close to the negotiations.
The talks have attracted a lot of interest on Wall Street because of their potential to change the landscape of the Web navigation industry. Up to now, all four leading navigation companies have received substantial traffic from their links on Netscape's popular Internet site. A deal favoring one of these companies could improve its competitive position.
But other search engines, including Lycos Inc. (LCOS), have dropped out of the talks with Netscape because of the high cost of the deal.
Still the partnership would be attractive to Infoseek - which is trailing the others in Web traffic - because Netscape's name still carries considerable clout on the Internet among consumers even though the company is struggling to maintain its lead over Microsoft in the Web browser market.
Netscape's Web site, which it recently renamed Netcenter, still gets a huge amount of Web traffic since it is the default start page for Netscape's Navigator browser.
Netscape has said it has more than 70 million browser customers, and 50% of those users default automatically to Netcenter.
Yet even if Microsoft eventually overtakes Netscape in the browser market, CIBC Oppenheimer analyst Henry Blodget believes Netscape's well-known name could still make Netcenter a compelling destination on the Web if "Netscape acts swiftly and resolutely now" to build up the site.
William Blair analyst Abhishek Gami said it would therefore make sense for Netscape's search partner to pay Netscape if Netscape gives it some branding on the service.
"Dow Jones News Service"
"Copyright(c) 1998, Dow Jones & Company, Inc."
Netscape-2: Recasting Web Site Into Internet 'Portal' Site
Netscape in the past did not attempt to retain the consumer traffic that came to its site and instead focused mostly on business users. But as Microsoft has become a major competitor in the browser market, Netscape has started to build Netcenter into a major Internet gateway for consumers by adding features like email, chat and the Netscape-branded search service.
The company's goal in redesigning Netcenter is to build it into a major "portal" site - the new buzzword for Web properties designed to function as windows onto the Internet for consumers - and compete with the likes of Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO), Excite Inc. (XCIT) and America Online Inc. (AOL), which is building up its own portal site.
Netscape's plans could therefore have a dramatic effect on both the current balance of power among the big Internet players and on the search engine that becomes its partner, some analysts said.
Blodget pointed out that because the partner would in effect be helping Netscape build up a competing service, the deal could ultimately hurt the search engine's ability to survive on its own.
The terms of the deal are therefore very critical, he stressed. "It all depends on how much money the 'winner' has to pay for the privilege of helping to build Netscape's media business and what it gets in return," Blodget said.
The analyst added that it would not make sense for Netscape to partner with a competitor forever since it would not want to share revenue generated by the site indefinitely. He speculated that Netscape might therefore ultimately either build up its own search capabilities or buy the partner.
Indeed, sources said Netscape has discussed taking an equity stake in the partner as part of the terms of the agreement.
Analysts believe Infoseek - which has in fact been widely rumored to be a possible takeover target - is the most likely candidate to partner with Netscape because the company is more dependent on traffic from Netcenter than the three other big Web navigation companies.
All of these companies, as well as several smaller players, have links on the Net Search button on Netcenter and have been paying Netscape for those links. Netscape has also been renegotiating these deals, which expire today.
Although some analysts believe a redesigned Netcenter could draw traffic -
and more important, advertising dollars - away from the other Web portals, others say Yahoo and Excite are so far ahead on traffic volume that a Netscape-Infoseek combination wouldn't pose a threat.
A Netscape spokesperson declined comment, and Infoseek and Inktomi could not immediately be reached for comment.
"Dow Jones News Service"
"Copyright(c) 1998, Dow Jones & Company, Inc."
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