Search company Overture Services Inc. plans to buy the Web-search unit of a Norwegian technology company for $70 million and an incentive payment of up to $30 million more.
The Norwegian firm, Fast Search & Transfer, is a developer of search and real-time filtering technologies based in Oslo.
In addition to the $70 million in cash, Overture would pay up to $30 million more as a performance-based cash incentive payment over three years. The deal is expected to close by April.
Last, week Overture announced that it would acquire search engine AltaVista Co. for $140 million in cash and stock.
"Through this combination, 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," said a company statement .
The statement also indicated that Overture plans to further enhance the paid-inclusion products currently offered by FAST and AltaVista and intends to provide its advertisers with consolidated reporting and billing along with a single interface for campaign management for both paid placement and paid inclusion products.
Pasadena, CA-based Overture provides pay-for-performance search functions for Web sites. It currently has 80,000 clients that advertise on the site.
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