Where did you hear this information?
DaveN
Looksmart doesn't exactly have a decent track record for informing their customers of upcoming changes that will render a new listing obsolete.
BT has just pulled out of BT Looksmart.
BT Looksmart will now shed most of its staff and concentrate solely on MSN, removing any ties to Tiscali, NTL Home and BT Openworld in January. The UK portal will also go back to being called solely Looksmart. Submit a site and performance listings stay but bidsmart and graphical advertising go.
No change if you are just interested in MSN!
Staff will be made redundant on the 3rd of January with Looksmart set to lose at least 40 staff members, leaving only 2 in sales, not a very nice time of year to do it!
"Ownership" is reverting to looksmart in the US.
Source: Direct from UK Director of BTlooksmart.
Apparently they issued a statement in the US and have not yet done so in the UK.
The company is now substantially debt free and continuing to record strong growth driven by LookSmart's listings business.
Seems to be fairly clear that its safe to continue submitting.
Guess that shortens the odds on this staying as a one-time fee directory.
curses:(
They have been really promoting their internet services over the last few months.
Anyone got any press releases from BT available?
yep. its bad news all round.
Wonder what BT are going to get upto now.
Maybe some on here should read the "actual" press release before they make any silly comments.
Looksmart is integrating the core BTLooksmart assets into its UK and Japanese operations and those operations will continue with an even greater focus now the shackles of the J/V have been removed.
BT has said for some time now they wanted to exit these sort of activities and see themselves again as a core telephony company.
Looksmart on the other hand have got an absolute bargain and will still supply MSN UK and BT with driectory and search content........a provider now rather then partner.
It appears on the surface to be a very solid move for LOOK and in fact hearlds a new presence and activity in Europe and Asia.
<SNIP>
I think that it will mean the likes of Tiscali, NTL World, BTOpenworld etc. will be dropped, which will probably mean that the paid inclusion will disappear as well if they intend to closely align with the existing technology and operations.
Looking at the stats, the 5 to 10% is more like 2-5%, MSN is massively the dominant player for Looksmart and we will definately continue to use them as long as they can provide a decent service. If 80 of their staff are going (which was the figure I was told too), then you'd have to question their ability to deliver the service, but let's give them the benefit of the doubt.
I think Bidsmart will cease to exist in due course, with everyone given the opportunity to move across to a Looklistings account, but servicing the UK, after all the technology is in place now. Premium Listings will be a big factor too.
[edited by: engine at 11:27 am (utc) on Dec. 5, 2002]
[edit reason] Sorry guys, please don't post contents of e-mails. See WebmasterWorld TOS. Thanks. [/edit]
I have heard nothing on this and still see their alliance with a UK based web marketing firm to be one of the big threats to many UK promoters
BT are one of the UK's biggest brands. They carry about 80% or higher of UK internet traffic and are a major isp here. Even tiscali and ntl
are massive comapred to looksmart in the UK. BT has recently signed major broadband ISP promotion deals with MS.
Both BT and Looksmart are obliged to tell the markets immediatly of any major development that may effect shareprice.
Looksmart announced that as a result immediate revenue would drop.
BT said nothing as it had no need: a few million here or their to cut their losses doesn't shift their shareprice and they are hardly likely to publise a failed venture when they don't need to.
BT is valued at around 27 Billion USD.
Looksmart is valued at around 236 Million USD.
I can't believe that Looksmart is also ditching its other partners to concentrate on MSN. Why on earth would they do that? Does it in fact mean that the other partners have been told about the new Looksmart PPC model that will be arriving and have opted out?
From Looksmart's POV, what would be the effect of MSN dropping them? Without any other partner sites, would that not be the end? I don't see how this is a sound business model; having a single source of income.
Jillibert, while it seems that you are happy to criticise others for not reading the press release, do remember that all press releases are manufactured to show the company in the best possible light, and Looksmart has a bit of a reputation for declaring something as being good when it obviously isn't. How many other people received the "we are upgrading [read downgrading] your account" email before. IIRC they actually sent out an apology afterwards because so many people complained.
And what do you make of a company that says "We're pleased to announce this restructuring" when that really means they are sacking 80 people to save cash because their main partner just pulled out?
Maybe you could show me a link to the site which states 80 people are to lose jobs.
When you can.let me know.
What i do though is read facts.
BT has mooted they wanted to exit the J/V with LOOK........it has been and is common knowledge.
But in your reference to LOOK saying revenues will drop for LOOK on this dissolving of the j/v.
Please show me the link to this fact.
That also flies in the face of what LOOK publicly released.
LOOK have stated publicly the deal will be accretive to LOOK in Q4.
I have a interest in a succesful alternative to some PPC models in the market place.
I see LOOK as being vital to maintain its presence to keep pricing pressure on the likes of OVER.
Funny how you seem to champion a view contrary to pluralism in the PPC industry.
I would have thought it was vital a vibrant and cohesive industry is needed both for advertisers and searchers.
Or if you prefer sticky mail me a copy please.
I just cannot see the plans you post about in the snippet you have posted from that email?
I had to laugh when I read that. Do you believe a single word from those characters? Cast your mind back a few months!
>> In the UK this will mean that operations of BTLookSmart will be more closely aligned with the existing LookSmart technology and operations. <<
Sounds like PPC to me... get ready for the insulting emails giving you a fixed number of 'free!' clicks in return for the unlimited number you get now.
A few months ago (April/May) I contacted BT/L$ on behalf of one of the biggest banks over here. We were seeking cast iron assurances that they would continue to operate as a separate entity and never be swallowed by L$ itself.
Given the past activities and the reputation of L$, it would not have been good for the bank to be seen as a partner of L$ in any way.
They could not give give those assurances, despite the obviously substantial budget potentially on the table.
I would imagine that for BT, people (let alone a bank) even asking questions like that must have given them food for thought.
The interesting thing will be the reaction of UK advertisers and regulators if they do try the same tricks as they did in the US. Trade is more tightly regulated here... and of course the customer base more parochial. They might just find it harder to get away with.
i would rather trust the numbers i see in a Press release
As Napoleon said, the parochial nature of the market has a big effect. This means that search engines will have to get more precisely targeted in the near future. The PPC model is not useful when a user is looking for an item or service in their locale (eg London) and is offered one in Scotland or Wales. Even though the PPC model has been somewhat refined the loop between user and results has not been properly closed. The location of the user (and not just the rough country as it is now) is essential to selecting the proper sales pitch or product. The paper magazine/local directory industry exists to serve the general market that the PPC model seeks to cover.
The biggest problem for companies like LookSmart and Espotting is the eventual fragmentation of the search engine market. They have to make money from the clients for placement and pay the ISPs their commissions. It is not a particularly nice business model as there is no guaranteed revenue. With some of the European economies heading into hard times, most business owners will be conserving money. Consequently, this attitude will hit businesses with vulnerable business models.
On a slightly related note, IOL/Oceanfree did a deal with Espotting. The interesting aspect is that these companies, though they operate in Ireland, are ultimately BT companies. Could this signal a greater involvement with Espotting for BT?
Regards...jmcc
Thats not to say that individual parts of the business aren't doing new things (their recent deal with Computacentre [computacenter.com] is causing concern amongst small IT service providers, for instance), but on the whole they are looking to consolidate
In Australia and New Zealand they operate with an annual fee for small business listings,for large business listings they have a PPC model.
In the UK they have a one time review fee plus a myriad of other products ie performance listings etc.
It would seem quite logical to me if LOOK offered the same product suite across its whole netowrk platform,in fact i see that as a strength.
At this point in time,UK adverisers only can be seen in the UK directory,what if you were able to be seen across the whole MSN platform for a low PPC cost?
