The search engine company Ask Jeeves Inc. (www.ask.com) announced on April 27 that its first-quarter profit rose 36 percent as the company attracted more users and advertising sales rose. Net income rose to $18.1 million, or 26 cents a share, from $13.4 million, or 23 cents, a year earlier. Revenue more than doubled to $94.9 million. About 74 percent of Ask Jeeves’ sales in the quarter came from an agreement to display ads supplied by the search engine giant Google Inc. (www.google.com).
Ask Jeeves’ Chief Executive Steve Berkowitz almost tripled spending on sales and marketing in the quarter, buying television spots for the first time in three years to boost awareness of Ask Jeeves’ search engine. That helped the company attract a record number of users, driving sales of ads displayed next to search results. Those ads accounted for 88 percent of the company's total sales.
