Media mogul buys Ask Jeeves for £975m

ASK Jeeves, the internet search engine that uses an image of a butler to help you round the worldwide web, has been sold for nearly $1.85bn(£975m.

California-based Ask Jeeves was one of the biggest names in the dotcom boom but, while still one of the world's leading search engines, it has been eclipsed by the likes of Google.

Now, in a bid to take on Google, Microsoft's MSN and other sites such as Yahoo, Barry Diller, the media mogul who runs IAC/InterActive Corporation, has bought the company to put alongside IAC's stable of online brands.

These include Expedia, the world's leading online holiday booking company, internet tourist guide site CitySearch, Ticketmaster and Home Shopping Network. Ask Jeeves, one of the first to use 'natural language' to aid online searches, recently bought rival Excite.

Ask Jeeves has been around for a decade and is perhaps one of the best-recognised brands in cyberspace despite losing prestige to Google.

'We believe that in the future Ask Jeeves has the potential to become one of the great brands of the internet and beyond - and by beyond we mean in wireless, in the search for anything on any device,' said Diller.

Ask Jeeves is also reckoned to be one of the largest generators of online advertising in the world. IAC is paying for the company in shares but plans to buy back 60% of its newly issued stock, thereby introducing a cash element to the deal.