] The business of providing Internet search technology has
] come full circle and is hot again after waxing cold
] during the new-media wars of the 1990s. If anything, the
] reversal of fortune shows how wobbly Web business models
] still are, highlighting how nobody has truly figured out
] which businesses belong together online.
]
] Consider the recent action in the online search industry:
]
] Yahoo Inc. said two months ago that it would pay $235
] million to buy Inktomi, which provides Web search results
] to portals such as Yahoo and Microsoft's MSN. That was a
] switcheroo for Sunnyvale's Yahoo, which started life as a
] human-edited Web directory and played down the value of
] automated search as it evolved into an online media
] company.