Yahoo's Switch to Google Won't Sink Inktomi

News that Yahoo (YHOO) is switching the search engine featured on its portal from Inktomi (INKT) to Google might be a marketing coup for Google, but it won't sink Inktomi, which has plenty of other customers and business not related to search. Search represents about 35 percent of Inktomi's overall revenue, while networking services such as caching represent 60 percent, and commerce represents about 5 percent, according to Richard Pierce, CEO of Inktomi. Without Yahoo, the company has 125 remaining search customers, including five out of the top 10 portal sites: Microsoft (MSFT) Network, America Online, Lycos (LCOS), iWon and GoTo. Yahoo revenues made up about 2 percent of Inktomi's total search income. In the meantime, Yahoo is retaining Inktomi's service as the search engine it offers to corporate customers seeking to create their own customized portals. The reasoning behind Yahoo's decision to boot Inktomi is unclear, although some analysts speculate that privately held Google, based in Mountain View, Calif., may have been able to offer the portal company a better deal than Inktomi, a public company. Yahoo executives have said they chose Google for the company's main portal search engine because it shares Yahoo's "strong consumer focus."