Infoseek Partners With Players in German Online Market

Infoseek Corp. said it entered a joint venture that will result in the launch of an Infoseek branded search, navigation and content service localized to serve the largest population of Internet users in Europe.

The company said it signed a memorandum of understanding to form the joint venture with Deutsche Telekom Online Service, Europe’s largest Internet access provider; Axel Springer Verlag, Germany’s largest consumer media company; and Holtzbrinck, a German business news and information provider.

The four companies said they will join to produce an Internet site that draws on traffic links throughout the most visited sites in Germany, including Deutsche Telekom’s T-Online which reaches more than 2 million members. Financial arrangements were not disclosed.

“The German market is the keystone of our European strategy,” said Infoseek’s president and CEO Harry Motro. “The combination of local content from Axel Springer Verlag and Holtzbrinck and the distribution by Deutsche Telekom’s T-Online, gives Infoseek a great opportunity to bring the best search and directory technology, as well as the Internet business know-how, to this market.”

According to Jupiter Communications, the online market in Germany has a projected growth rate of 38%, higher than the European average of 29%, and has five million people currently accessing the Internet.