GoTo.com to Pay $50 Million to Get Links on AOL

GoTo.com Inc., a Web search engine that charges for placement in its listings, said it will pay America Online Inc. $50 million in a multiyear agreement to be featured on the Internet service provider’s Web sites. The news sent Pasadena-based GoTo.com’s stock up $3.81, or 20%, to close at $23.31 on Nasdaq. Searches on AOL.com, Netscape Netcenter and AOL proprietary sites will return two or three links from GoTo.com alongside results from AOL’s own search engine. Links supplied by GoTo.com will be marked as “sponsored links,” according to AOL spokesman David Theis. The companies would not reveal the specific terms of the deal, but called it a multiyear agreement. AOL, the world’s largest Internet service provider, said it now has 24 million subscribers, up nearly 1 million in about three months. Ted Meisel, GoTo.com’s chief executive, said the deal would allow the company to reach 75% of searchers on the Internet. Companies wishing to be listed on GoTo.com’s search engine can place bids on how much they want to pay for each visitor. The company with the highest bid is listed first in the search results, and pays GoTo.com for each click on the link. Shares in Dulles, Va.-based AOL closed off 38 cents at $57.38 on the New York Stock Exchange.