There were so many doomed marketplace models in 2000. Would you have believed that an ad marketplace model displaying search results on some search engines would grow into a billion dollar market? I doubted, but Overture already got a nice sum for their efforts. What's even more surprising is the hint in Yahoo's latest announcement of earnings:

"Yahoo's fourth-quarter revenue gains flowed largely from its $1.8 billion acquisition of Overture Services, a deal that closed in early October.

Overture operates a commercial database that delivers relevant ads to search engines. The service has become one of the most popular advertising vehicles on the Internet, providing an additional boost to Yahoo's fortunes.

The advantages of owning Overture "are even more compelling than we initially thought," Susan Decker, Yahoo's chief financial officer, told analysts during a conference call. "