3 ms·

I agree search is ridiculously profitable, but if you showed up to a meeting in 1998 and said: "Search is going to be a multi-billion dollar industry" the busin

I agree search is ridiculously profitable, but if you showed up to a meeting in 1998 and said: "Search is going to be a multi-billion dollar industry" the business exec would laugh you out of the office.

nine_k 11y ago
In 1998 there was a enough online commerce (in fact, there was a crazy boom of it, the original internet boom) for a good exec to see the potential of the ad market for it. Searching is precisely the moment when an ad can be well-targeted.
- erikpukinskis 11y ago
  I was alive back then. It was not common belief that search would be a huge money maker. No one thought Google would be bigger than Microsoft until they started doing the ad auctions and people could start to see how the money could actually flow. That Google won the Internet money pot was a bit of a surprise to most.
  - mc32 11y ago
    I think that started with overture. At least I recall overture's business prop being paid search results.
  - nine_k 11y ago
    I was also a user of google.stanford.edu back then. Nobody then thought that Apple would be bigger than MS either.
jacques_chester 11y ago
That's because they'd be right to laugh. Search isn't a multi-billion dollar industry. Advertising is. If you don't believe me, name a company making billions of dollars from search engine fees alone.
- jacquesm 11y ago
  Would palantir qualify?
  - jacques_chester 11y ago
    You know what? Maybe they do, in the larger sense of "search engine". But if we make the definition too generic then folk will start naming Bloomberg and LexisNexis and you and I, being two guys called Jacques who remember the late 90s, will wonder how these companies wound up in the same category as Alta Vista, Lycos or Excite.
  - bane 11y ago
    Probably not: Nobody knows their current revenue/profit figures, but most public estimates seem to indicate under a billion/year. Their primary sales appear to be consulting and integration services with their software as a minor concern.

nine_k 11y ago

In 1998 there was a enough online commerce (in fact, there was a crazy boom of it, the original internet boom) for a good exec to see the potential of the ad market for it. Searching is precisely the moment when an ad can be well-targeted.

erikpukinskis 11y ago
I was alive back then. It was not common belief that search would be a huge money maker. No one thought Google would be bigger than Microsoft until they started doing the ad auctions and people could start to see how the money could actually flow. That Google won the Internet money pot was a bit of a surprise to most.
- mc32 11y ago
  I think that started with overture. At least I recall overture's business prop being paid search results.
- nine_k 11y ago
  I was also a user of google.stanford.edu back then. Nobody then thought that Apple would be bigger than MS either.

jacques_chester 11y ago

That's because they'd be right to laugh. Search isn't a multi-billion dollar industry. Advertising is. If you don't believe me, name a company making billions of dollars from search engine fees alone.

jacquesm 11y ago
Would palantir qualify?
- jacques_chester 11y ago
  You know what? Maybe they do, in the larger sense of "search engine". But if we make the definition too generic then folk will start naming Bloomberg and LexisNexis and you and I, being two guys called Jacques who remember the late 90s, will wonder how these companies wound up in the same category as Alta Vista, Lycos or Excite.
- bane 11y ago
  Probably not: Nobody knows their current revenue/profit figures, but most public estimates seem to indicate under a billion/year. Their primary sales appear to be consulting and integration services with their software as a minor concern.