InterActiveCorp has agreed to a $1.85 billion buyout of Ask Jeeves, a search engine that has long been overshadowed by Google and Yahoo.
The Internet conglomerate, which is headed by media entrepreneur Barry Diller, said Monday it is hoping to move aggressively into the Web search market through the deal and pointed to growth in the online advertising market as another major incentive in making the acquisition.
Ask Jeeves differs from other search engines in that it responds to plain English questions such as “What is March Madness?” rather than simple keyword searches. That was one of the elements of the company that made it most appealing as an acquisition target, Diller said.
“We believe that in the future (Ask Jeeves) has the potential to become one of the great brands on the Internet and beyond,” Diller said in a teleconference Monday morning. “And by ‘beyond,’ we mean in wireless (and) in the search for anything on any device.”
Source: c|net
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