Today in Search Biz: News Corp isn’t throwing Yahoo a life preserver to fend off Microsoft. Ask loses a (small) paid search partner and gets competition for those women it now says it’s not really that focused on (sort of). Google’s stock hits a new low, but will it plunge below $400? Facebook founder Mark […]
Forbes is out with the latest billionaires list, and Google executives are well represented. Plus, Yahoo president Susan Decker saw a 63-percent increase in her salary, with a 29-percent bonus increase from last year.
Goodbye, Ask.com. You caught my eye back in 1997 as an unusual meta search engine that asked questions to get answers. By 1998, I counted you alongside Google and Direct Hit as shining examples of what to watch in search. You’d dumped depending on others for search results and started providing answers using your own […]
IAC’s Ask.com to Cut Staff, Outlines New Search Strategy from the Wall Street Journal reports IAC has cut 8% of Ask.com’s workforce, by letting go 40 people. Not only that, the Wall Street Journal says IAC is changing the strategy of the search engine to “focus to better answering search queries posed as questions.” Ask’s […]
IAC: Ready To Bail On Ask? from Silicon Valley Insider reports an insider tip that IAC may sell off or abandon their search technology and outsource it to Google. Here is the tip: There is indeed a big shakeup coming. A new Ask. Some think a reduction in workforce is likely. There are no sacred […]
The New York Times and Wall Street Journal both report on the legal battle for control of IAC’s board and thus the company itself. It’s not pretty, and IAC claims that it’s impeding the company’s ability to effectively operate. The legal fight arguably prevents IAC from making any sort of overture (so to speak) toward […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
The Wall Street Journal covers the “open warfare” between IAC CEO Barry Diller and Liberty Media, one of its largest backers and investors. Liberty Chairman John Malone has grown increasingly frustrated with IAC’s financial and stock performance and Diller himself. Diller has control of the company through a Byzantine procedural agreement that allows him to […]
With Jim Lanzone being replaced as Ask.com’s CEO, I thought it time to do a piece that’s been banging about in my head. Do successful search companies have to have CEOs or top execs who "grew up" from the search product side? The jury is probably still out, but it’s interesting to look back at […]
IAC, Ask.com’s parent company, has announced that Jim Lanzone, the CEO of Ask.com, will be replaced immediately by Jim Safka as the new CEO of Ask.com. Safka was previously the CEO of Match.com, IAC’s online dating company, from 2004 to 2007. He will also retain his job at as CEO of Primal Ventures, an investment […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
IAC Looks to Expand Web Presence in China from the Wall Street Journal reports Ask.com is planning on coming to China within two years. Barry Diller said he plans on spending $100 million to bring Ask.com to China. Diller told the Wall Street Journal, “We’ve certainly got enough capital to do damage,” and admitted there […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Barry Diller to Time Warner: Name Your Price for AOL from AdAge has a Q&A session with Barry Diller, the CEO of IAC, the parent company of Ask.com. Diller was asked about the split up of IAC into five business units, his thoughts on the growth of the Internet, Facebook’s valuation, if he would like […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
IAC Reports Q3 Results from CNNMoney reports that IAC saw a 4.2% decline in net income year over year. Here is IAC’s press release for the third-quarter numbers this year. But if you pull out Ask.com, IAC’s search engine, which is part of IAC’s Media & Advertising group, you will see that sector saw an […]
Ask.com Ad Pact With Google Ends Soon from CNNMoney.com covers how the deal for Ask.com to carry Google’s paid listings expires at the end of this year and suggests Ask.com has more to lose than Google by not renewing it. Let’s break down some of those numbers from the story:
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
The iWon site has been relaunched with a new look and with the intention to give away more prizes. Barry Diller’s IAC revamps iWon.com from BusinessWeek details most of the changes, which include more “games, more prizes and plans to add social networking functions.” In addition, iWon will contain a search toolbar that links search […]
Forbes released its latest The Forbes 400 list, and among the top ten richest Americans are Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Google’s Sergey Brin and Larry Page. Gates topped the list at number one with a net worth of $59.0 billion. Sergey Brin is listed at number five, with a net worth of $18.5 billion. Larry […]
I Fought the Law from the New York Times tells the story of how Ask.com CEO Jim Lanzone abandoned pursuing a legal degree and learned his true passion was for internet companies. Lanzone attended Emory University’s School of Law in Atlanta. He then worked for Justice Hugh P. Thompson at the Supreme Court of Georgia, […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web:
IAC to spend $100 mln on Ask brand in 2007: Diller from the Washington Post reports that Ask.com is going spend $100 million on branding Ask.com this year. IAC chairman Barry Diller, whose company owns Ask.com, said We have a number of ways to tell people about Ask, its tools, and why it should be […]
Gary Price reports that Portfolio.com released a database of top executives profiles, and part of that list includes many of the top executives from our beloved search engines. Here are quick links to some of those profiles of interest:
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web:
Barry Diller keeps talking about Ask as the “glue” of his empire and more specifically about the importance of local. Ask and the new AskCity are thus in the hot seat. ClickZ has a piece today about the forthcoming introduction of financial and real estate data into AskCity.