This acquisition, combined with Overture's previously announced plan to purchase the business of Web search pioneer AltaVista Company, will strengthen Overture's leadership in commercial search and position the company to build the most powerful and comprehensive search capability on the Internet. The acquisition of AltaVista is expected to close before the end of April.

In accordance with the terms of the acquisition agreement as announced on February 25, 2003, Overture acquired FAST's Web search unit for $70 million in cash. The transaction provides for a performance-based cash incentive payment of up to an additional $30 million over three years.

Through the combination of FAST's Web search unit and AltaVista, Overture expects to be at the forefront of the industry in offering a full suite of paid placement, paid inclusion and algorithmic Web search products and services for syndication to portals, ISPs and other search destination sites. Additionally, Overture's 80,000 advertisers will benefit through increased access to new products and sources of distribution to drive targeted leads.

"Overture pioneered Pay-For-Performance search and turned it into one of the Internet's most successful commercial ventures," said Ted Meisel, chief executive officer and president, Overture Services. "With the addition of FAST's Web search unit and our planned acquisition of AltaVista, we are focused on creating the next generation of Internet search and providing the most direct and effective connection between marketers' offerings and customers' needs."

As part of the agreement, Overture acquired AlltheWeb.com, FAST's search technology showcase Web site, which the company will use to test and experiment new approaches in search. The acquisition also will add to Overture's international presence through FAST's key distribution relationships and advanced linguistic capabilities in about 50 languages.

"This acquisition will provide the resources and innovative capabilities Overture needs to become the market leader in search relevance, index size and freshness of content," said FAST's vice president of Web search, Tim Mayer, who is joining Overture as part of the deal. "By leveraging FAST's technology, Overture will have a running start at bringing valuable search services to market quickly and efficiently, while offering increased value to businesses and consumers."

Founded in 1997, FAST is based in Oslo, Norway and has operations in the United States (Boston, San Francisco), Europe (Norway, France, Germany, Italy, UK), and Japan. The acquisition includes FAST Web Search algorithmic search, AlltheWeb.com, and FAST PartnerSite paid inclusion services. FAST retains the intellectual property relating to its enterprise search technologies. For further information on FAST, please visit www.fastsearch.com.

"The completion of Overture's acquisition of FAST's Web search unit presents a winning situation for both companies," said John M. Lervik, chief executive officer, FAST. "We look forward to working with Overture to develop the next generation of search."