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Eug Wanker · Mar 21, 2005, 01:36 AM

Ask Jeeves Inc. to Be Bought for $2 Billion

IAC/InterActiveCorp, the Internet company headed by Barry Diller, is close to an agreement to acquire Ask Jeeves Inc., the nation's fourth-largest search engine company, for about $1.9 billion, according to an executive involved in the negotiations.

An announcement could be made as early as today.

IAC/InterActive owns a variety of Internet businesses. Its principle holdings are Expedia, Ticketmaster, Home Shopping Network, Match.com and CitySearch. Advertising spending on search sites is rapidly growing and Mr. Diller's company appears to be trying to tap into a market ominated by Google and Yahoo.

DeathToWindows · Mar 21, 2005, 12:24 PM

Not if you ask me... did someone use the .BOMB time machine again?

vmpaul · Mar 21, 2005, 12:27 PM

No kidding, I saw this today and laughed. Almost looks like it's Bubble time again.

from the article: Net income rose to $17.5 million and revenue rose to $86.1 million from $31.8 million a year earlier.

$2 Billion for a company whose revenue is $86.1 million? Oy vay.

But Barry Diller is a shrewd guy. You can't argue with that. He must see something.

willed · Mar 21, 2005, 01:03 PM

Who still uses ask Jeeves? I've used it about twice in the last few months... compared to Google which I use daily.

Garage81 · Mar 21, 2005, 02:06 PM

i almost shat my pants when i saw this.

barry diller has a proven track record, but how many years is it going to take for him to make back 2bill on askjeeves? that bid seemed pretty absurd to me.

Apple Pro Underwear · Mar 21, 2005, 02:14 PM

Originally posted by vmpaul:
No kidding, I saw this today and laughed. Almost looks like it's Bubble time again.

from the article: Net income rose to $17.5 million and revenue rose to $86.1 million from $31.8 million a year earlier.

$2 Billion for a company whose revenue is $86.1 million? Oy vay.

But Barry Diller is a shrewd guy. You can't argue with that. He must see something.

what you are paying for is the 4th most used search engine and all it's assets and technology.

thats a nasty risk though because MS, A9, a revitalzed yahoo and some others are just getting their targets locked onto google and taking no prisoners in it's wake (as well as google getting better each month it seems)

i wonder if he plans to do something with it... don't tell me it's yet another m***er**ckin' portal sh*t site

vmpaul · Mar 21, 2005, 02:20 PM

Diller is an acquisition guy. He doesn't necessarily get involved in building a business, let alone providing guidance for a high tech company like Jeeves.

It'll be interesting to see where this goes. Given the competition you mention it still seems like he overpaid. Buy hey, he's got the money and I don't so he's obviously good at this stuff.

MrForgetable · Mar 21, 2005, 02:24 PM

when i was in elementary school about 5-6 years ago, i used to love it because i thought it would answer all my questions. then i started asking some harder questions, and it gave me some really irrelevant answers. then i figured out they just search the key words in your question and try to find you something like that. boo. what a disappointment.

Garage81 · Mar 21, 2005, 02:28 PM

dont forget that askjeeves has william hung on their commercials, thats worth half a bill right there