Pay-for-performance search engine company Overture Inc. said yesterday that its revenue for 2001 rose 179 percent to $288.1 million, from $103.1 million a year earlier. For the fourth quarter of 2001, the company's revenue rose 154 percent to $101.2 million, from $39.8 million the previous year.
Overture posted net income for 2001 of $20.2 million, or 36 cents per share, up from a loss of $458.6 million, or a loss of $9.54 per share in 2000. In the fourth quarter, the company posted net income of $20.8 million, or 35 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $361.7 million, or $7.27 per share in the fourth quarter of 2000.
The company said that on a worldwide basis in the fourth quarter, it received 442 million paid clicks, up from 288 million a year earlier. For the full year, advertisers paid Overture an average of 23 cents per click, up from 17 cents in 2000.
Overture's advertiser base reached 53,000 active, paying customers at the end of December 2001, up from 38,000 in the fourth quarter a year earlier. Advertising spending increased as well in the fourth quarter, rising 77 percent to an average of $1,980 from $1,120 a year earlier.
