Inktomi dropped by IWon and Canada.com. Is Google for sale?

• Jun. 7, 2001

In the continuing trend amongst search portals, two more partners have dropped Inktomi as their search provider and have turned instead to the seductive siren of Goto's paid placement revenue sharing plan.

Both Canada.com and Iwon.com now feature paid placements from Goto. While this increases Goto's market reach, it does nothing for the increasingly woeful state of the Internet's search alternatives. Altavista's recent revamp also feature's more prominent placement of results from Goto. It seems like many former reputable search providers are now lining up to sell their souls to Goto's paid placement devil. At this point, only Google seems to be bucking the trend.

And, if recent rumours are to be believed, Inktomi may be planning to buy Google. If the rumours pan out, it could be the biggest blow to the search engine industry yet!

The Virtuous Search Engine
ZDNet's look at Google vs. the Paid Placement Rush

IWon, Canada.com Go Paid Placement
Search Engine Watch's article

Can Portals Resist the Dark Side?
Danny Sullivan looks at the trend towards Goto Partnerships

Inktomi rumoured to buy Google - May 29
Dotcom Scoop