IAC/InterActiveCorp (www.iac.com), which owns the travel site Expedia, the service search site CitySearch and the dating site Match.com, announced on March 21 that it has acquired the search engine Ask Jeeves (www.ask) for $1.85 billion. The deal sees IAC issuing 1.2668 shares for every one share of common stock that Ask Jeeves has. At least 60% of these shares will then be bought back by IAC.
Barry Diller, Chairman and CEO of IAC, said that Ask Jeeves has the potential to become one of the great brands on the Internet. Adrian Cox, chief executive of Ask Jeeves UK, said that the move will give the company the resources it needs to grow aggressively, and that his company is currently a small player in the land of giants.
