Ask Jeeves Sold

Entertainment mogul Barry Diller and his company, InterActiveCorp have offerred 1.85 Billion (USD) for search portal Ask Jeeves.

If nothing else convinced you, this ought to demonstrate that everybody thinks search is where the money is. One needn't be #1 to profit in this area, either. Just have a good product and a loyal user base.

I used to test software on an unpaid basis for Ask Jeeves and was a loyal user. I grew disillusioned with the number of paid inclusions in search results, however, and quit using it in favor of Google. A while back, they quit paid inclusions in search results and things have been improving since then. I've started using them again, though only in a limited way. One can only hope that the infusion of new money and expertise this buyout will provide will enhance the product and so boost their fortunes further.

Jack