Inktomi Announces Staff Reductions

FOSTER CITY, Calif., October 8, 2002 - Inktomi Corp. (NASDAQ:INKT), a leading provider of information retrieval solutions, today announced a restructuring to better align its operating expenses with revenues. In this move, Inktomi expects to eliminate approximately 85 positions, or about 20 percent of its staff, bringing the Inktomi workforce to approximately 300 employees. The company also stated that it expects to report revenues of approximately $20 million and pro forma net loss in the range of $0.05-$0.07 per share for the quarter ended September 30, 2002. Inktomi expects cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments at September 30, 2002 to total approximately $45 million.

"Current economic conditions in enterprise software mandate that Inktomi further adjust its cost structure to move towards cash flow breakeven performance," said David Peterschmidt, president and CEO of Inktomi. "Inktomi's focus remains steady on providing search solutions for the Web and enterprise markets as we continue to see long-term growth potential for our products."

Inktomi will hold a conference call and audio Webcast to report results for the quarter ended September 30, 2002 and fiscal year 2002 on Thursday, October 24, 2002 at 4:30 p.m. EDT, 1:30 p.m. PDT. The Webcast can be accessed at http://www.inktomi.com/webcast.

About Inktomi

Based in Foster City, Calif., Inktomi is a leading provider of information retrieval solutions. More than 2,500 global customers depend on Inktomi to rapidly find the right information within applications, portals, databases and networks. Organizations using Inktomi products and solutions increase profitability and reduce costs by accelerating customer-facing operations and other mission-critical business systems. The company that pioneered Web search, Inktomi is also the market-leading OEM provider of search services for leading consumer portals, Internet destinations and e-commerce sites worldwide. Inktomi's customer and strategic partner base includes such leading companies as America Online, BEA Systems, Documentum, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems and Yahoo! The company has offices in North America, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit http://www.inktomi.com.

This press release contains forward-looking and preliminary statements regarding staff reductions, the financial impact of such reductions, Inktomi's anticipated fourth quarter results and Inktomi's future financial and operating results. These statements are based on current expectations and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements. Final, actual results for the fourth quarter could differ materially due to any unforeseen expenses or any accounting adjustments made during the quarterly close or quarterly review by our independent auditors. In addition, factors that could affect our staff reductions generally and our financial and operating results include risks related to the consolidation of operations and reductions in force; need to broadly penetrate the enterprise market; need to improve our sales and distribution capabilities, internally and through alliances; substantial competition; dependency on a small number of portal customers in the Web search business; the rapidly changing business environment; changing buying patterns of our customers and potential customers; need to develop, acquire and release new products and technologies; and risks associated with acquisitions, dispositions, strategic alliances, international operations and product release dates. For more information and additional risk factors regarding Inktomi generally see "Factors Affecting Operating Results" contained in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 14, 2002 and in other reports filed by Inktomi with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Inktomi expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any statements to reflect any change in Inktomi's expectations or any change of events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statements are based.