ISEDB: Is Overture Overextending Itself in Europe?

Overture is expanding into Europe heavily and Jim Hedger provides a revenue analysis of Overture's Continental prospects. However, Hedger doesn't look at the expense side of the expansion equation. When a search engine moves into a new market, editorial staff need to approve listings, sales people have to sell, and fixed costs need to be covered. In the US, a large population, heavily wired and online, are searching in a single language. Now imagine having the same costs and one tenth the inventory, as well as fewer advertisers within a country. Welcome to the EU. You have to run a lean, efficient business to generate profits. Let's hope Overture Europe and Yahoo (post merger) can pull it off.