WSJ: Diller close to $2 billion deal for Ask Jeeves

There are no reviewed versions of this page, so it may not have been checked for adherence to standards.

Monday, March 21, 2005

Barry Diller's InterActiveCorp (IAC) is near a US$2 billion deal to buy search engine Ask Jeeves, according to a report in Monday's Wall Street Journal.

The corporate boards from both companies were in talks all weekend negotiating what appears to be an all-stock deal. If approved, the price tag would be a substantial premium over Ask Jeeves valuation of $1.4 billion as of Friday's stock market close.

The acquisition of Oakland, California-based Ask Jeeves by IAC would mean they own a known brand name and get a foothold in revenues from search engine advertising. The company also would become a direct competitor with companies such as Google, Yahoo!, Amazon.com and Microsoft who also have launched their own high-profile internet search engines. Ask Jeeves also owns other brands, including Excite.com and iWon.com.

Diller has built InterActiveCorp on the backbone of the cash generated by Home Shopping Network, a company he used to bankroll the purchases of a large portfolio of internet and electronic commerce companies. These include Expedia, Ticketmaster, Match.com, CitySearch and the LendingTree.

He also bought and grew cable networks USA Network and Sci Fi Channel before selling them off to NBC Universal, of which he is the largest individual shareholder.

Sources

Dennis K. Berman and Kebin J. Delaney (Subscription Required). "Diller's IAC Nears Deal for Jeeves" — Wall Street Journal, March 21, 2005
"IAC near deal to buy Ask Jeeves" — MarketWatch, March 21, 2005
Geraldine Fabrikant. "Ask Jeeves Inc. to Be Bought for $2 Billion" — New York Times, March 21, 2005

Share this:

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.