Earlier I wrote of the French government wanting to provide loans to help develop a European-based
multimedia search engine, an effort to help counter perceived threats to French and European culture by the dominance of US search firms. Something was nagging at me. Why did
French firm Thomson — one of the partners seeking loans for the new service — sound so familiar. Oh, yes. It’s because Thomson used to own a multimedia search engine.
Perhaps you’ve heard of it. Singingfish.
That’s AOL-owned Singingfish. Thomson bought
the company in 2000 (with nary a word about European encroachment into the US search industry), then sold
it to AOL in 2003 (with nary a word about undermining French ability to protect its culture through search in the process).
So now having owned multimedia search technology and sold it, Thomson needs loans to start afresh? Maybe it could use the proceeds from selling the multimedia search
technology it used to own?
Want to comment, discuss, tell me to jump in a lake? Visit our forum thread, French Loans To Back
European Rival To US Search Players.