As if things aren't bad enough already with the name confusion. Earthlink is one of the service providers for Charter Communications.
GOTO) EarthLink Signs GoTo.com as Its Default Search Provider; Two-Year, $10 Million Premiere Partnership Puts GoTo.com on EarthLink's Top Web Properties
PASADENA, Calif., Oct 14, 1999 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- EarthLink
(Nasdaq: ELNK) and GoTo.com (Nasdaq: GOTO) today announced a two-year,
$10 million agreement that makes GoTo.com the default search engine on
EarthLink's most popular Web properties.
These properties include the major Internet service provider's (ISP)
Personal Start Page (the default launch page for EarthLink members),
EarthLink's Web site (http://www.earthlink.net) and EarthLink's Finance
Center personal finance portal.
Starting in January 2000, EarthLink members will be able to find the
products, services and information they need quickly and easily by
accessing GoTo.com's relevant search results. GoTo.com pioneered an
online marketplace that introduces consumers who search the Internet to
advertisers who have bid in an ongoing auction for priority placement
in the search results.
The GoTo.com marketplace offers consumers relevant search results at
both its Web site and more than 100,000 locations across the Internet,
while providing advertisers with a cost-effective way to target
consumers.
EarthLink will leverage GoTo.com's unique search concept to drive
traffic to its variety of "Premiere Partners," a roster that includes
some of the best-known brands on the Internet.
In addition, a co-branded EarthLink/GoTo.com search results page will
enable EarthLink to include relevant advertising and content or
commerce partner links that relate to the specific search query -- a
move that further integrates EarthLink's Premiere Partners into the
EarthLink member Internet experience. Relevant search result listings
for additional Web sites will follow in order of appearance based on
the highest bid among the listed Web sites.
"Because search is the most frequently used tool on EarthLink's sites,
it's essential for us to provide a leading search tool to our members
and non-members," said Howard Lefkowitz, EarthLink's vice president of
business development and Internet marketing. "GoTo.com's innovative
approach to delivering quality, relevant search results and introducing
consumers to Web sites will provide our members with the results
they're looking for.
"Delivering convenient, one-click access to the Internet's leading
commerce and content providers underscores our mission of providing the
best possible Internet experience to our members."
"We are very excited to initiate this relationship with EarthLink. It
indicates that the marketplace values the flexibility, economic
potential and quality search product we bring to the table," said
Jeffrey Brewer, GoTo.com's chief executive officer. "And it gives us a
new opportunity to deliver on our consumer promise -- we put great
search, and the best results, right smack in front of you, wherever you
are."
EarthLink's Premiere Partner Program
EarthLink's Premiere Partner program, a significant incremental
revenue driver for the ISP, is designed to deliver marketing reach and
frequency to Premiere Partners, familiarize EarthLink's active member
base with Premiere Partner products and services, and enhance each
EarthLink member's Internet experience.
EarthLink reported record incremental revenues of $2.3 million for the
second quarter of 1999, a 98 percent increase over the same period in
1998. With more than 1.5 million members, EarthLink is the only pure
Internet service provider generating an increasing amount of
significant non-access revenue through its online marketing channels.
EarthLink's current roster of Premiere Partners includes: ABCNews.com,
Amazon.com, BigStar.com, CNN, eBay, ESPN.com, E-Stamp, E*Trade,
HotBot/Wired Digital, InfoSpace.com, MarketWatch.com, MBNA,
MessageClick, Sprint, Strategy.com, Travelscape.com, The Weather
Channel, Wherehousemusic.com and a number of other leading Internet
content and commerce providers.
About GoTo.com
GoTo.com (Nasdaq: GOTO) created and operates an online marketplace
that introduces consumers and advertisers. Consumers conduct searches
using the GoTo.com search service at its Web site and at more than 100,
000 locations across the Internet where GoTo.com can be accessed
through its Search Syndication Network.
Advertisers bid in an ongoing auction for priority placement in the
search results with the highest bidder's site appearing first in the
results. Each advertiser pays GoTo.com the amount of its bid whenever a
consumer clicks on an advertiser's listing in the search results. This
dynamic, together with GoTo.com's streamlined search method, improves a
consumer's ability to quickly and easily find relevant Web sites
providing information, products and services.
Moreover, GoTo.com ranked ahead of Yahoo!, Excite, Lycos and the Go
Network in the category "frequency of finding information sought every
time" in an independent online consumer survey recently conducted in
the summer of 1999 by NPD Online Research.
GoTo.com ended the second quarter of 1999 having made more than 31,000,
000 introductions between consumers and advertisers, and had more than
15,000 advertisers in its marketplace in September 1999. GoTo.com is
located in Pasadena and can be found online at goto.com.
About EarthLink -- It's your Internet
EarthLink is one of the world's leading Internet service providers.
Through its unified EarthLink Sprint Internet access service, the
company makes the Internet relevant and productive to more than 1.5
million individuals and businesses every day. With headquarters in
Pasadena, EarthLink provides a full range of innovative access, hosting
and e-commerce solutions to thousands of communities internationally
from more than 2,300 points of presence.
In September of 1999, EarthLink and MindSpring announced plans to merge
in a transaction that will create the world's second largest Internet
service provider. The new company will be called EarthLink
(Nasdaq: ELNK) and the transaction is expected to close in the first
quarter of 2000.
Information about EarthLink and EarthLink Sprint services is available
by calling 800/395-8425 and through EarthLink's Web site at
earthlink.net.
Statements in this news release constitute "forward-looking
statements." These forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain.
Actual results may differ materially from these forward-looking
statements due to factors such as: the risk that overall traffic in the
GoTo.com network might not materially increase. For a discussion of
some of the other risks and factors that could affect GoTo.com's future
results, see the discussion of "Risk Factors" in its Prospectus, dated
June 18, 1999. EarthLink's actual results also could differ materially
from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements; forecasts
and predictions as a result of many factors including those discussed
in EarthLink's various reports filed from time to time with the SEC.
NOTE TO EDITORS: In the company name E*Trade noted in this news
release, there is an asterisk between E and Trade. This symbol may not
appear properly in some systems.
Copyright (C) 1999 Business Wire. All rights reserved. |
