Portal company Yahoo! Inc.is hoping to take home some
gold of its own from a newly signed deal with the U.S. Olympic Committee
(USOC) that includes linking to one of the official U.S. Olympic Team stores.
The deal, signed just 31 days before the Winter Games begin, usolympicteam.com, also means that
Yahoo! will offer U.S. Olympic team news, including domestic and
international Olympic news coverage, medal counts and TV schedules of Olympic
events for the Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The store, to be accessible via Yahoo! Shopping, will sell the official
collection of authentic Olympic team apparel, including winter wear such as
hats, fleece items, sweaters and accessories, pins, T-shirts and memorabilia.
The USOC site already has a store, accessible here. The Yahoo! deal is aimed at
increasing exposure. Financial arrangements were not disclosed. The USOC site
also has a deal with NBCOlympics.com that includes shopping links.
“With this new initiative, usolympicteam.com has instant access to millions
of shoppers on Yahoo!, as well as the millions who flock to Yahoo! Sports
…,” said Matt Rightmire, vice president and general manager for the media
group at Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo!.
Meanwhile, Yahoo! Brasil said it has acquired Cade?, a Brazilian search engine targeting
Spanish and Portuguese-speaking audiences, from StarMedia Network. Financial terms were not disclosed. Cade? means “where is?” in
Portuguese.