Autobytel, Yahoo in Marketing Deal

Autobytel Inc., an online auto marketing and referral business that has yet to post a profit, said that Internet search service Yahoo Inc. will give users of its automotive Web site access to Autobytel’s network of dealers.

Details of the agreement between the Irvine marketer and the Sunnyvale, Calif., search site were not disclosed.

Yahoo has about 218 million visitors each month. Autobytel has a network of about 6,700 dealers, earning referral fees from them and from marketing agreements with auto makers.

Autobytel stock rose 26 cents to $1.91, while Yahoo stock fell 67 cents to $17.71, both on Nasdaq.

In February, Autobytel’s then chief executive, Mark Lorimer, told a National Automobile Dealers Assn. convention that the company would be profitable in the second half of the year. But it purchased rival Autoweb.com Inc. in August for $9.4 million in stock and recorded a net loss of $3.2 million on sales of $18.2 million for the third quarter, bringing its total loss so far this year to nearly $44 million.