Overture Loses Ask Jeeves Contract but Raises Forecast

Overture Services Inc., operator of an Internet search engine on which businesses pay for prominent listings, lost another contract but raised its profit outlook.

The company said search engine Ask Jeeves Inc. dropped Overture and signed a contract with its rival Google Inc. Overture lost AOL Time Warner Inc.’s America Online and EarthLink Inc. to Google earlier this year.

Still, the Pasadena company, formerly known as GoTo.com Inc., said it would raise 2002 and 2003 forecasts on July 25 and would report second-quarter results that exceed its previous forecast.

Shares of Overture fell 3 cents to $24.46 on Nasdaq, before the news was announced.