Idealab Sells Block of Overture Stock

Idealab Holdings sold 1.8 million shares of its stake in Internet-search service developer Overture Services Inc., whose stock has more than tripled this year--a rarity for an Internet issue.

Pasadena-base Idealab, which made its name in the late 1990s financing tech startups, said it sold 200,000 shares in market transactions between Oct. 25 and Nov. 2, along with a sale of 1.6 million shares in a private transaction on Nov. 1, according to a filing with the SEC.

Idealab did not divulge the share price for the sales or to whom the sales were made in the private transaction.

Overture (ticker symbol: OVER) rose $2.58 on Monday to $25.25. At that price, 1.8 million shares would be valued at $45.5 million.

Idealab said in June that it would pare its stake in Overture. Idealab and its chief executive, William Gross, control about 6.9 million shares of Overture, about 12.1% of the total outstanding.

Idealab has been helped by Overture’s strong stock performance Overture, which recently changed its name from GoTo.com Inc., earned $9 million in the third quarter, topping analysts’ estimates, as more businesses paid to be listed in Overture’s Net search results.