Slashdot Mirror
Ask Jeeves Bought for $2 billion
RMX writes "CNet's reporting that
Ask Jeeves
is being bought by InterActive Corp
for $2 billion.
Ask Jeeves (ask.com,
excite.com,
iwon.com)
and InterActive Corp (expedia, ticketmaster, match.com, citysearch).
This marks a nice comeback for Ask Jeeves, whose stock was quite a roller coaster ride during the 2000-2003 .com crash. Are the good times back?"
Do you think the creators of www.iwon.com had any idea they'd be in store for a $2,000,000,000 windfall?
I'm a big tall mofo.
Really ever use ask jeeves? I mean, I used it once or twice several years ago, but is it really that popular to be bought for 2 billion? I cant think of anyone who uses it consistently, or even rarely.
Wider distribution for the nightmarish mix of malware provided through AskJeeves!
Bring on the good times. I'm going to start a search engine called askstrongbad.com and it's gonna make billions and be the best thing out there since that techno song I heard one time!
Are the good times back?
Yes they are just not for the USA. Its a good time for India and China, with cheap ass CEO's CFO's CTO's, all outsourcing.
I really do not see any 'good times' ahead for IT ppl in the US.
"The word "genius" isn't applicable in football. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein," - Joe Theisman
I think this represents a good thing for Ask Jeeves. I remember 5 years or so ago in school when we had to take a class on internet basics and we learned about screach engines. Ask Jeeves was my faviorite because it was one of the few that made sense. But over time I learned about Google and www.alltheweb.com, and I stopped using Ask because I found it's layout overbearing and hard to navigate. Ask also suffered from a poor marketing stragity. I think that if they can reorganize the company then it will be a very positive thing.
did anyone care to ask Jeeves what he thinks of this?
I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
Askjeeves owns myway.com, a portal with the motto "no banners, no ads, no kidding" Let's hope they don't mess with that.
What's a sig?
It seems like when some new, highly exploitable technology comes out, hundreds of little companies start out. Those companies slowly die out, and the ones that are left, are gobbled up by the largest of the remaining companies, and it leaves room for the new, baby companies again.
.coms. Interesting..
Holds true for cars, computers, and now,
"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush
With $2 billion in his pocket, maybe he can afford now to pay his OWN butler.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Ask Jeeves, Inc. also owns Bloglines.
Did InterActive own any blog type services prior to this acquisition?
Could be that everyone is consolidating so it will be easier for MS to just buy everything at one sale.
There are no loopholes. It's either legal or it's not.
Yeah, it's "whose". 1) "Whose" -> "of someone" 2) "Who's" -> short for "who is" 3) "Who'se" -> ??? PROFIT!!
-- Let's go Viridian.
1. In soviet Russia, Jeeves asks YOU!
2. In Korea, only old people ask Jeeves.
3. I, for one, welcome our new butler overlords.
and finally...
4. I AM a butler, you insensitive clod!
Did you read the fine print? The 2 billion dollars was paid in Flooz and online petfood sales company stock options.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Actually they did:
s in terview.shtml
http://www.satirewire.com/features/satire-jeeve
Ask Jeeves ( ask.com, excite.com , iwon.com ) and InterActive Corp ( expedia, ticketmaster, match.com, citysearch).
That's not even a sentence.
Given that the company made about $86 million last year, the selling price ($1.9 billion) represents a price to earnings ratio of ~22...a bit on the high side, but not out of line with a company whose earnings more than doubled last year. Given that this is a profitable survivor acquiring another profitable survivor, I don't think this represents a slide back into the (good? bad?) old days of multi-billion dollar valuations for stocks that barely have a business plan. As for that profitability, it may seem odd to those of us who take it for granted that a query like "prescription drugs canada" makes more sense than "Where can I buy prescription drugs in Canada?", but we're tech geeks. Ask around..."Jeeves" is the portal of choice for the techno-phobic middle-aged and elderly, who typically have a much higher money-to-brains ratio than computer geeks.
Historically everytime there has been a new technology there has been a "bubble" (You didn't think the internet bubble was the first bubble did you?
Money gets thrown in at a breakneck pace, there's a bubble for a few years and then KABOOM! Market implosion when reality finally hits.
Then after the smoke clears and the dust settles a new golden age begins followed by consolidation. I think it's safe to say that we are in consolidation mode now. Now is the time that the lasting 1600 pound gorillas get formed. Interactive Corp is one of those gorillas along with Ebay and Amazon.
Are the good times back?
Let's ask jeeves!
With the costs/value of traffic rising, sites that have a lot of traffic are being bought. Their value should increase significantly over the next few years. This is also why about.com was bought recently.
Complete with nifty headline:
Ask Jeeves if it's been bought
I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
That seems similar to Slashdot. I asked it, and I got a picture of a butt. (insert tinyurl Goatse link here).
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
I find that kind of amusing.
Mid-Eastern Pennsylvania Gaming Convention
Somebody had $2BN burning a hole in their pocket eh?
Looks like somebody got ripped off too.
Religion is for people afraid of going to hell.
Next time, save the 50 cents and use Mozilla Firefox. It is free, and has a lot fewer problems with browser-related malware. I should know. I am one of those who'se used it.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Under the terms of the deal, IAC will issue 1.26 shares of its common stock for each share of Ask Jeeves common stock in a tax-free transaction
Thus this doesn't really say anything at all about the real value. Just one bubble merging with another bubble. I would be more impressed if they offered to buy the shares with real money instead of shares in another company.
Q: So, Jeeves, what is it like being hooked into the internet?
A: Beekeeping in New Zealand.
Fucker can buy a lot of bees for 2 Billion.
What's the best search engine?
why does Ask Jeeves suck so hard?
Do you like goatse?
Can you imagine a beowulf cluster of those?
Religion is for people afraid of going to hell.
"hoo-(gutteral stop)-SAY"
It's Klingon for "the editors here can't spell."
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
> OMFG!!! 2 billion? 2 BILLION??
I felt the same way. Reading through the news, Ask Jeeves was sold for $2 million with a b... er... go back.. go back.
Take off every 'ZIG' !!
Earnings were _not_ $86M; they were $17.5M, making the P/E ratio a whopping 114, a definite return to the 'bad ole days'. Ask Jeeves has something like 2% of the search market, so I suspect they're hoping blogs are the Next Big Thing and Bloglines will somehow make this deal work in the next five years.
It won't.
why don't you Ask Jeeves?
Since I got my first 'Ask Jeeves' popunder in Firefox last night they can go boil their heads.
AT&ROFLMAO
I noticed that too. Wasn't the situation that Bart and Lisa were reading Homer's map to the RV store and the directions said "Remember to Ask Jeeves".
Anyone want to correct me? I didn't know there'd be a test when I watched it.
To be fair, the episode also had Marge accussing Homer of doing nothing at work but Googling his own name.
.\.\att Clare
It's being sold for $1.85 billion. Two very different numbers.
All your searching needs (and free money!) - 4Lancer.net
"The majority American debt is owed to other Americans. "
:
:
...
Wrong
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/faq.html
"The national debt you're referring to comes mostly from the US government buying on credit from US corperations. "
WRONG !
He is talking about the current federal budget deficit , the Nationnal debt is closer to 7.8 Trillion.
" this does in many ways repersent a positive injection into our economy because it helps balance the trade deficit. "
Wrong !
To balance the trade deficit you would have to sale to other country as much as you buy.And to really balance it you would have to sale more to other in other to pay your huge debts.
" The reason people won't outsource to here is because even in our current state America repersents a place of inovation and invent simply unmatched in many parts of the world."
Wrong !
The reason is higher salary cost , no point in giving 1 dollar for 2 mins of US worker pay when for that amount you can have 30 Chinese or Hindi for 4 hour.
The Etats-Unians are not innovator the US aint a place of innovation , most innovation come from outside the US.
" As long as the new technology is here first we shouldn't have a problem. "
Reality check
Nothing as came out of US since the 70's
The world is doing everything in its power to keep your market of extreme spender happy , but there are limits to insanity for the sake of keeping a market alive , With the strong Euro , and soon the Chinese dollars , you will see a shift into global position for dropping your pathetic Country.
welcome to a new era
. . . get the answer here.
I tried to use Ask Jeeves a couple of times when it came out, and the answers I got to my questions were so bad, so wrong, so utterly useless, it hurt my feelings.
Try it now, it will take you back to the bad old days before Google, when nothing but random crap shows up. Then try Google, and feel the almost mystical connection from your query to your results.
It seems to me like it is almost a crime that no one has forcibly made the users of Ask Jeeves sit down and try Google.
I continously tell him to "google" something when he has a question, but his seach engine skills need work. Yesterday his female roommate told him to "ask jeeves"...(what is baklava?). For whatever reason, Jeeves worked out for him, and he proceeded to get himself answers to all the questions he's had in a while.
I think because it encourages the user to literally ask a question, noobs feel more confident that they'll get the results they want. For them,it's easier to ask jeeves "What is baklava?" than to google "baklava definion".
"from the bricks to the booth...I predict the future like Cleo the psychic..."
Jees, I don't think being bought by ticketmaster is anything to get excited about!
And I thought Microsoft owned Expedia?
Did anyone ever use Jeeves even in it's prime? I always thought it was pretty useless....
#include <sig.h>
Like most mergers, it will probably be a dud. The performance history of merger and acquisition activity is, overall, negative. But because it increases volatility, it enhances CEO pay.
the simpsons mentioned ask jeeves last night? Maybe they knew something we didn't.
Yes, they knew how much they got paid to insert that ad in their content.
You can't take the sky from me...
I would like to know whether Ask Jeeves started to talk with InterActiveCorp before of after buying Bloglines.
Oops, that link was broken. This should work: http://answersblogger.blogspot.com/2005/03/ask-jee ves-selling-for-2-billion.html/
"If you look at this graph comparing traffic trends at askjeeves and answers.com, you might find yourself wondering whether answers.com traffic might soon reach the levels of askjeeves.com traffic. Then you might note that at $20, Gurunet (GRU, owners of anwers.com) has a market cap roughly 1/10 the askjeeves price."
Oops, that link was broken. This should work: http://answersblogger.blogspot.com/2005/03/ask-jee ves-selling-for-2-billion.html
"If you look at this graph comparing traffic trends at askjeeves and answers.com, you might find yourself wondering whether answers.com traffic might soon reach the levels of askjeeves.com traffic. Then you might note that at $20, Gurunet (GRU, owners of anwers.com) has a market cap roughly 1/10 the askjeeves price."
man 2 billion for such a worthless site. I would have sold them askkarl.com for a measly 500 Mil
I have never gotten any useful results form AskJeeves.
"But all your emitter and collector are belong to me!"
IAC also owns my employer, ServiceMagic.com
Try it out next time you need a maid, mover, plumber, electrician, or other home contractor!
</utterly shameless plug>
I haven't used it that much, but Brainboost.com seems to be better for natural-language queries. It's being used in a NASA-sponsored project, so it's gotta be pretty good.
Ask Jeeves can now point to InterActive's own properties when it feels like. Let's plan my date, Jeeves:
Where can I find easy fat chicks (match)
I need tickets to New Orleans (expedia)
Where can I get tickets for Hootie? (ticketmaster)
where are BBQ restarants in New Orleans (citysearch)
I need a cheap hotel in New orleans(expedia)
How can I have other people see my searches? (searchspy)
How can I give all my web browsing information to you for you to resell? (speedbar)
Their version of the intarweb need not point to pesky competitors.
Also notable is that all the search return links given by Ask Jeeves are not to the destination site but are referred back to Ask, which then forwards you; AJ know the search returns that you are clicking on also. Couple that with the mandatory cookies on expedia etc and you are being watched, tracked, sold to, and sold.