May 20, 2003 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Search engine consolidation is nearing its end, according to a new research report released today by The Yankee Group (yankeegroup.com).
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The report, titled ?Mass Consolidation Hits the Web-Search Market,” examines the effects of a string of major merger and acquisition announcements and their impact on the Web and enterprise markets.
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According to the report, the Web search market has firmly consolidated with three large competitors ? Yahoo! (yahoo.com), Overture (overture.com) and Google (google.com) ? emerging as the dominant players. The report examines recent developments in the merger and acquisition market such as the breakup of Inktomi, and Overture?s acquisitions of AltaVista and FAST?s Web-search businesses. In its conclusion, the report publishes Yankee Group perspectives on the future of the search market and the prospects of the vendors that remain.
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?The recent string of Web-search acquisitions represents the last significant round of consolidation the market is likely to see,? says Rob Lancaster, Yankee Group Internet Business Strategies senior analyst. ?The market?s merger-and-acquisition activity represents the final stages of a consolidation that began several years ago when early search engines started to compete for traffic and gave away content.?
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Based in Boston, The Yankee Group is a technology research and consulting firm covering communications, IT products and services.
