IAC ready to move on Ask Jeeves acquisition
21 March 2005
Television and internet firm IAC/InterActive is reportedly poised to purchase search engine Ask Jeeves for $2 billion (£1.05 billion).
The company, owned by media mogul Barry Diller, is expected to make an announcement on the deal this week.
IAC/InterActive is expected to acquire Ask Jeeves shares in exchange for IAC/InterActive shares.
The company already owns Expedia.com, CitySearch and internet dating site Match.com and is rumoured to be planning to link CitySearch, a search site for restaurants and other services in cities, with the Ask Jeeves search engine in order to boost internet advertising revenue.
The media group is likely to spend about $1.2bn buying back 60 per cent of the new shares it issues for the exchange, according to reports from the US.
Neither Ask Jeeves nor IAC have commented on the deal. The reported price would value Ask Jeeves stock at about $33.90 a share, compared with a close of $24.24 on Friday on Nasdaq.
Ask Jeeves is the fifth most-queried search engine in the US and has a market value of $1.43 billion.
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