If Barry Diller is looking for somewhere to unload IAC’s Ask.com search engine, he’d be wise to consider Microsoft–if he doesn’t have that in mind already. Analysts reflecting on Diller’s recent remarks about Ask’s “speculative future” say Microsoft is the most likely buyer if IAC is truly serious about dumping the little search engine that couldn’t.
Well, there it is. Barry Diller would rather sell off IAC’s Ask.com search engine than brave a fiercely competitive market with a property whose future he describes as “speculative.”
Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp racked up its second profitable quarter in a row Tuesday despite a decline in advertising. The company–which runs Ask.com and the Citysearch online city guide, among other things–posted earnings of $21.3 million, or 16 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $15.2 million, or 11 cents a share.
With a 4.8 percent share of the search market, according to comScore, Ask has long been the inveterate fourth-place contestant in a sector overwhelmingly dominated by Google. And try as it might–with both redesigns and ad campaigns–the company just can’t seem to build any audience beyond that. So there’s little reason to believe that Ask’s latest redesign–its third in as many years and the 11th since it first launched–won’t be as ineffective as those that have gone before it.
This year’s D conference had its share of great lines–tired ones, too (we’re all clear on the subject of Facebook and information sharing, right?). Here’s a selection of the former…
I will probably never be a CEO again.”
–Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang states the obvious
It’s a company that creates technology.
– Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg answers the question, “What is a technology company?”
Barry Diller may have managed to turn Fox into a legitimate fourth major broadcast network. But he hasn’t had much luck doing the same thing with Ask.com in search. Despite Diller’s best efforts, Ask’s share of the search market dropped to 4.6% in November from 5% in November 2006, according to comScore.
“We have certainly [...]
John Paczkowski has been poking fun at the tech industry and the personalities that drive it since 1997. From 1999 to 2007, he wrote the award-winning tech news Web log Good Morning Silicon Valley for the San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley's daily newspaper. Read more »
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
12:58 AM: Breakfast: Two schools of fish from Tokyo Bay. Calories: 782,000. How I was feeling when I ate this: confused, irradiated, hating my size.
11:37 AM: Exercise: “Taxi Stomp” (alternating legs, for 30 blocks). Calories burned: 148,900,183.
1983. The Beatles announce their first tour in thirteen years, but likewise announce that Michael Jackson will be going on tour with them as a one gigantic mega-concert event.
Best video mashup ever.
A Facebook Memorial
Wow.
Worth it for the Rickrolling photo alone.
Excellent.
Flughumor!
… you vacuous, toffee-nosed, malodorous perverts
Stephen Fry and zoologist Mark Carwardine meet the kakapo — a fat, flightless and very randy rare parrot.
D is unlike any other executive conference. Since its debut in 2003, D has brought to life the energy and excitement of the digital revolution in an unscripted, upfront and unparalleled way. Read more »
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