Microsoft abandons LookSmart
7 October 2003
Microsoft has decided to end its licensing agreement with LookSmart after a five-year partnership.
Since 1998 LookSmart has provided a search service for the software giant, which has been responsible for almost 70 per cent of the search firm's overall sales.
Microsoft has chosen to end the agreement following a decision to develop its own search technology, possibly to tie-in with future Windows operating systems.
The companies will remain partners until January 15, after which LookSmart's listings will no longer appear in the search results on the MSN website.
'We are very disappointed with the outcome of efforts to renew our agreement with Microsoft,' commented LookSmart chief executive Jason Kellerman.
'We're going to need to make some changes around here,' he told the BBC.
LookSmart forecasts sales of $147 million (£88 million) this year. Microsoft generated £23 million of the company's revenue in the second quarter of this year.
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