AskJeeves Makes Big Purchase From
Yahoo! News
Ask Jeeves Inc. and its natural-language search engine have languished in recent years as Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft forged a three-way battle for Web-search supremacy. But the once-ubiquitous butler took a major step to regaining more significance Thursday when it agreed to acquire Interactive Search Holdings Inc. for $343 million in cash and stock. The company also said it would abandon the paid-results approach that has become a staple of Web-search firms in an effort to improve the relevancy of its search findings.
Interactive Search is the parent company of several Web-search and portal brands, including My Way, My Search, My Web Search, Excite, iWon, and MaxOnline, making it one of the largest players in the search arena. Ask Jeeves raised its revenue projections for 2004 as a result of the acquisition. The deal solidifies Ask Jeeves' focus on the Web-search market.
AskJeeves Makes Big Purchase From
