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Will Microsoft Ask?
30 October 2009 , Written by Administrator
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Ever since Interactive Corp's (IAC) Barry Diller placed Ask.com on the block by terming it's future 'speculative' during yesterday's earnings call, Microsoft has emerged as the logical suitor for the search engine with a 4% market share, according to comScore.

Reuters reported that when asked whether he would consider selling Ask.com, Diller was more than willing to consider the option. That is no surprise considering Ask is a distant fourth in the online search market, trailing Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft's Bing. For Ask, third quarter revenues at IAC's media and advertising business, which are dominated by Ask.com, declined by 11%. IAC, which also owns dating site Match.com, CitySearch, and Gifts.com, saw overall revenue drop 9%, even as sales and profit beat analyst expectations and saw the company's shares rise 1%.

Ask was founded in 1996 and acquired by IAC in July 2005. One of the pioneers of online search, it was originally introduced as Ask Jeeves in 1997 and then relaunched as Ask.com in 2006. According to IAC's website, Ask.com has approximately 100.8 million unique monthly users globally.

Market observers see Microsoft as the best possible suitor since it is reportedly willing to buy share in search and Ask would add a clear 4% to the 9.4% market share it currently claims. Moreover, it would get to deliver a wammy to competition by ensuring the end of Ask.com's partnership with arch rival Google, which handles paid search for Ask. With its deep pockets and the lack of any other evident suitors, Microsoft most certainly seems to be the ideal consolidator.

Sources:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Microsoft-Ready-To-Buy-siliconalley
http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20091029/ask-com-give-it-to-microsoft-hell-eat-anything
IAC Website – media section.

 
 

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