Search and Marketplace
Our Search and Marketplace properties focus on being the starting point for
consumers and businesses looking for information and looking to purchase products
and services. The properties include the following:
• Search – Yahoo! Search;
• Local – including Yahoo! Yellow Pages, Yahoo! Maps, Yahoo! City Guides and
Yahoo! Real Estate;
• Autos – Yahoo! Autos;
• Shopping/Auctions – including Yahoo! Shopping and Yahoo! Auctions;
• Travel – Yahoo! Travel;
• Careers – Yahoo! HotJobs; and
• Small Business – including Yahoo! Merchant Solutions, Yahoo! Web Hosting,
Yahoo! Business Mail and Yahoo! Domains.
Search
Yahoo! Search offers users a highly relevant, comprehensive, fast and easy-to-use
search experience on the Internet. Our search properties are a gateway to the
properties and services within the Yahoo! network. Using complex search engine
algorithms, Yahoo! Search provides users with free Web-wide search results prioritized
based on relevance. Our Yahoo! Search also offers a hierarchical, subject-based
directory of Websites. Users can access directory listings by browsing through
subject matter or using the keyword search function.
We generate revenue primarily by providing enhanced placement of our customers'
Websites in our search results. Additionally, we generate revenue through our
paid inclusion service, which guarantees that our customers' Websites are included
in the Web search index, and through fees generated from customers who use our
Web search services and incorporate the search results we provide into their
online offerings to end users.
Local
Yahoo! Local is comprised of four comprehensive offerings of local information,
available free to users – Yahoo! Yellow Pages, Yahoo! Maps, Yahoo! City Guides,
and Yahoo! Real Estate. Yahoo! Yellow Pages enables users to connect to local
and national merchants in the United States. Yahoo! Yellow Page business listings
can be displayed by proximity to the user's location. Businesses can pay to
have their listings placed in the Sponsored Business section above regular non-paid
listings. Yahoo! Maps provides interactive maps with zooming and other capabilities
and integrated driving directions. Yahoo! City Guides offers information on
local arts and entertainment news and events. Yahoo! Real Estate offers free
services to our users including: information for prospective home buyers and
sellers; the ability to search for listed properties based on geography, price
and features; moving-related content and services; information about finding
a real estate agent, researching neighborhoods, financing and insurance, and
home improvement ideas; and assistance in locating rentals and roommates. Users
can also pay to list a property.
Autos
Yahoo! Autos offers information about buying, selling, leasing and owning automobiles.
Services available free to our users include new and used car searches; pricing,
specification, insurance, general financing, and other research information;
and new car quote referral services provided through third parties.
Shopping/Auctions
The Yahoo! Shopping platform provides, free of charge to users, search functionality
and comparison-shopping tools making it easy for consumers to find, research,
compare and conveniently buy almost anything online including consumer electronics,
apparel, books and flowers. Yahoo! Shopping combines comprehensive product search
functionality with a full suite of comparison shopping, merchant rating and
product review tools. Yahoo! Shopping connects buyers and sellers, and is a
starting point for online commerce.
Yahoo! Auctions creates a marketplace for buyers and both individual and corporate
sellers who wish to purchase or sell goods in an auction-style setting. Yahoo!
Auctions connects buyers and sellers, generating revenue through listing fees
and revenue share of the final selling value from sellers, and is available
free of charge to buyers.
Travel
Yahoo! Travel provides research and booking functionality for consumers to
find, compare and conveniently buy leisure travel products such as flights,
hotel rooms, vacation packages and cruises. Yahoo! Travel generates revenue
through transactions fees and advertising from travel suppliers and advertisers.
Careers
Our Yahoo! HotJobs ("HotJobs") property is a leader in the online
recruiting industry, providing comprehensive solutions for employers, staffing
firms and job seekers. HotJobs' tools and advice put job seekers in control
of their career search and make it easier and more cost-effective for recruiters
and employers to find qualified candidates compared to offline alternatives.
We provide services for job seekers, which include the ability to create a resume
and to search and apply for jobs, as well as access to newsletters, online forums
and salary research, free of charge. We generate revenues from employers and
staffing firms that access our database of job seekers and use our tools to
post, track and manage job openings. In addition to our popular consumer job
board, HotJobs provides employers and staffing agencies with a variety of recruiting
solutions, including hiring management software.
Small Business
Yahoo! Small Business provides a comprehensive suite of fee-based services
that enable a company to develop an online presence (through Yahoo! Domains,
Yahoo! Business Mail and Yahoo! Web Hosting), sell their products online (through
Yahoo! Merchant Solutions) and market online by integrating offerings such as
Yahoo! Shopping, pay-for-performance search and Yahoo! Yellow Pages.
Information and Content
Our Information and Content properties deliver information and entertainment
to consumers. We offer basic content that is available without charge to our
users, and also provide some of our content on a fee or subscription basis.
Our properties provide information and content including the following:
• Media – including Yahoo! Sports, LAUNCH, Music on Yahoo! and Yahoo! Games;
• Finance – Yahoo! Finance;
• Entertainment – including Yahoo! Movies and Yahoo! TV;
• Information – including Yahoo! News, Yahooligans!, Yahoo! Health; and
• Network Services – including Yahoo! Front Page, My Yahoo!, and Yahoo! Companion.
Media
Yahoo! Sports provides up-to-the-minute news, real-time statistics and scoring,
broadcast programming, localized and global coverage, integrated shopping and
auctions opportunities, and an on-line sports community. Yahoo! Sports has content
or marketing relationships with professional sports organizations including
the National Basketball Association and the Major League Baseball Players Association,
among others, as well as sports media outlets such as Sports Illustrated Interactive.
Yahoo! Sports also offers fee-based fantasy games' sports statistic trackers
and leagues and audio feeds.
LAUNCH, Music on Yahoo! is a comprehensive online music destination. LAUNCH
provides music fans with access to a wide selection of streaming audio, music
videos, artist interviews, music news, album reviews and artist biographies.
In 2003, LAUNCH introduced a variety of fee-based music services such as concert
ticket offerings and premium radio.
Yahoo! Games offers free, Java-based classic board, card and word games along
with downloadable games, game strategy guides, shopping guides, gaming news
and reviews on computer and console videogames. Yahoo! Games also offers a variety
of fee-based premium downloads and subscriptions.
Finance
Yahoo! Finance provides a comprehensive set of financial resources from investment
and company information to personalized financial management tools. Yahoo! Finance
offers Money Manager, a free set of financial tools that provides an integrated
view of an individual's financial life. In addition, Yahoo! Finance offers fee-based
products, including a real-time stock quotes package, research reports and services
to allow users to pay their bills online.
Entertainment
Yahoo! Movies offers a daily mix of exclusive movie-related content, movie
news and special features, including box office results, trailers, and photo
galleries, as well as links to the movie-related content across the Yahoo! network.
Yahoo! Movies features paid-for film promotions for major movie studios, including
Disney, Sony, Warner Bros., Universal and Fox. Yahoo! TV connects users to personalized
television listings and other television-related content.
Information
Yahoo! News aggregates news stories from news providers, bringing together
content from media companies such as Associated Press, Reuters, AFP, The Washington
Post, USA Today, Tribune Interactive, National Public Radio, US News & World
Report, and more. Through Yahoo! News, users receive up-to-the-minute news coverage
with text, photos, audio and video, from multiple sources and points of view.
Yahooligans! is an entertaining and educational Web guide targeted for children
ages seven to twelve. Yahooligans! provides games, instant messaging, reference
materials and movie information, among others.
Yahoo! Health is a comprehensive starting point for users to find healthcare
information. Yahoo! Health provides information and links to sites on diseases,
conditions and medications, as well as listings for various health information
centers, clinical trial information and online community tools.
Network Services
The Yahoo! Front Page (www.yahoo.com) serves as a free navigation hub and entry
point into the Yahoo! network. Among many available features on the page are
the ability to perform a Web search, read the latest news, link to Yahoo! sites,
and view promotions from Yahoo!'s key advertising partners.
My Yahoo! is our free, personalized Web information service that allows registered
members to create a personal profile which organizes and delivers information
of personal interest to the user via a user-customized interface. The My Yahoo!
platform allows us to deliver targeted product, advertising and transaction-based
services on behalf of our advertisers and partners.
Yahoo! Companion is a free browser add-on that enables users to conveniently
access our properties and services from anywhere on the Web.
Communications and Consumer Services
Our Communications and Consumer Services group provides a wide range of communication
and content services to consumers and small businesses. The offerings are distributed
both on the Yahoo! network and through our access alliances, including those
with SBC Communications Inc. ("SBC") and British Telecommunications
plc. ("BT"). These offerings incorporate a suite of integrated Yahoo!
tools and services including safety and security features, communications tools,
compelling content, and a customized Internet browser – all in an individualized
environment.
• Premium Internet Packages – including SBC Yahoo! DSL, BT Yahoo! Broadband
and Yahoo! Plus;
• Communications – including Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Messenger, Yahoo! Photos,
and Communities;
• Personals – Yahoo! Personals; and
• Mobile – Yahoo! Mobile.
Premium Internet Packages
During 2002, we launched a strategic alliance with SBC to offer a co-branded
Internet service to DSL (broadband) customers in SBC's 13-state region and to
dial-up subscribers nationwide. The services offer consumers integrated access
and premium services on a subscription basis, and include a suite of Yahoo!
and SBC customized products and services. During 2003, we launched a similar
alliance with BT offering co-branded DSL, dial, and email services in the United
Kingdom. In December of 2003, Yahoo! also introduced Yahoo! Plus, a comprehensive
premium Internet package for users with broadband Internet access. In early
2004, Yahoo! announced an alliance with Rogers Cable Inc., which will provide
broadband Internet access bundled with Yahoo! products and services in Canada.
Communications
Yahoo! Mail is a free service that provides users with a full-featured email
experience including industry-leading Spam control, robust address book functionality
and integration with Yahoo! Calendar. In addition to our basic email service,
we offer premium Mail products that include extra email storage, mail forwarding
and the ability to use Yahoo! Mail with other client applications. Yahoo! Mail
Plus, a premium mail product, offers a combination of these features plus enhanced
junk mail control, increased virus protection and personalized stationery.
Yahoo! Messenger provides a platform for instantaneous communications for personal
and business users. Users can interact with friends and family on a real-time
basis while customizing the experience via features such as IMVironments™ –
which allows users to change the messaging window background, animated emoticons,
video Web cams and integrated mobile messaging.
For a fee, Yahoo!'s Enterprise Edition Messenger extends the benefits of this
instant communication to the workplace by adding an enhanced level of security
and centralized administrative control. This service was formerly part of our
Enterprise Solutions business along with Yahoo! Portal Solutions and Broadcast
Solutions, which provided communications solutions to help businesses more easily
aggregate and distribute business critical information and interact with their
target audience.
During 2003 we reduced our Yahoo! Portal Solutions and Broadcast Solutions
efforts and reorganized Enterprise Edition Messenger into the Communications
and Consumer Services group.
Yahoo! Photos makes it easy for a user to upload and store pictures, as well
as share them with friends and family for free. For example, Yahoo! users can
now view their pictures with a friend instantly using a specially designed Yahoo!
Photos IMVironment. Users can also order prints with the click of a mouse as
a premium service.
Our online Communities help users build and manage relationships and includes
properties such as Yahoo! Groups, Chat, Member Directory, and Message Boards.
Yahoo! Groups gives users a convenient way to connect with others who share
the same interests and ideas through a Website and email group.
Personals
Yahoo! Personals allows users to post a profile and search for others with
whom to communicate for free. Users can also send short one-time messages to
others in the community to communicate their interest without charge. With a
subscription, Yahoo! Personals' users can email and use Yahoo! Messenger to
communicate with others in the community. Our Personals service includes online
dating industry-leading features such as voice and video clips, and a special
recommendations engine called "Likely Likables," which uses advanced
search technology to bring similar people together in the community.
Mobile
Through paid arrangements with leading wireless carriers around the world,
Yahoo! Mobile makes a range of Yahoo! products and services available through
wireless phones and PDA's. Customers can access a variety of Yahoo! services
for free, including email, instant messaging, and a wide range of information
offerings on their mobile phones via wireless-specific browsers. Yahoo! also
allows consumers to receive mobile alerts on a wide variety of interests from
sports scores to breaking news to weather. In 2003, Yahoo! launched a number
of innovative mobile features including PC-to-SMS (Short Message Service) messaging
and Yahoo! Mobile Photos.
Affiliate Services
We offer pay-for-performance advertising, paid inclusion and algorithmic search
services. These services connect advertisers and potential buyers through our
network and our affiliates' Websites, networks of Web properties that have integrated
Overture's search service into their Web pages. These services include:
• Pay-For-Performance – including Precision Match and Content Match;
• Paid Inclusion and;
• Algorithmic Search.
Pay-For-Performance
Precision Match or keyword search prioritizes search results by the amount
the advertiser has bid for placement. Advertisers are listed in the search results
on our network and also on our affiliates' networks in descending order of their
bid, with the highest bidder appearing as the first search listing in the search
results. Bids may be expressed either as the amount the advertiser pays each
time there is a click on the advertiser's search listing or as the maximum amount
the advertiser is willing to pay for a click on the advertiser's search listing.
Advertisers pay only when a click-through occurs on the advertiser's search
listing. Advertisers may see the bids of other advertisers on their keywords,
enabling the advertiser to determine his or her own bid necessary to achieve
a desired ranking, which instills competition among advertisers and promotes
greater relevance for consumers. Most advertisers utilize self-service tools
to open and manage accounts online including tracking, bid management and measurement
features.
Content Match allows businesses to place listings on more locations on the
Web and drive more traffic to their sites. Content Match displays listings when
Internet users are viewing related content on the Yahoo! network or our affiliates'
pages. For example, if the user is reading an article about interest rates,
he or she could find links on the side of the page for mortgage-related advertisers.
Similarly, users who are researching vacation plans may see listings for hotels
and rental car agencies.
Paid Inclusion
Paid Inclusion guarantees that our customers' Websites are included and frequently
updated in the index that is crawled by the search engine. Customers may pay
fees based on sales leads or click-throughs powered by our search services.
Customers may also pay a fixed fee that provides inclusion in the Web search
index and an automatic 48-hour refresh of the submitted content. Through our
paid inclusion programs, customers submit information often not normally available
by traditional Web crawling techniques and this information is included in our
Web search index.
Algorithmic Search
Our Algorithmic Search services provide search results to some of our affiliates,
who in turn incorporate these results into their online offerings to end users.
Our search engine uses proprietary technology to crawl the Web, index and serve
Web results on text-based queries. Customers pay per-query search fees based
on query volume.