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	==History==		==History==

	Ask.com was originally known as '''Ask Jeeves''', where "Jeeves" is the name of the "gentleman's personal gentleman", or ], fetching answers to any question asked. The character was based on ], ]'s fictional valet from the works of ].

	The original idea behind Ask Jeeves was to allow users to get answers to questions posed in everyday, ], as well as traditional keyword searching. The current Ask.com still supports this, with added support for math, dictionary, and conversion questions.

	]]]

	In 2005, the company announced plans to phase out Jeeves. On February 27, 2006, the character disappeared from Ask.com, and was stated to be "going in to retirement." The website prominently brought the character back in 2009.

	] owns a variety of sites including country-specific sites for ], ], ], ], ], and ] along with , ] (now ExpertRank<ref>. Retrieved on May 11, 2009.</ref>) and several others (see ] for a complete list). On June 5, 2007 Ask.com relaunched with a 3D look.<ref>, ], 2007-06-04. Retrieved on June 5, 2007</ref>

	On May 16, 2006, Ask implemented a "Binoculars Site Preview" into its search results. On search results pages, the "Binoculars" let searchers capture a sneak peak of the page they could visit with a mouse-over activating screenshot pop-up.<ref>, ], 2006-06-16. Retrieved on May 16, 2006</ref>

	In December 2007, Ask released the AskEraser feature,<ref>, eff.org, Retrieved on 2008-01-03</ref> allowing users to ] from tracking of ] and ] and ] values. They also vowed to erase this data after 18 months if the AskEraser option is not set. The ]'s positive evaluation of AskEraser<ref>{{cite web\|title=Letter to U.S. Federal Trade Commission\|url=http://www.cdt.org/privacy/20080123_FTC_Ask.pdf\|publisher=Center for Democracy and Technology\|format=PDF\|date=January 23, 2008\|accessdate=2008-03-10}}</ref> differed from that of privacy groups including the ] who found problems such as the requirement that ] be enabled for AskEraser to function.<ref>{{cite web\|title=Does AskEraser Really Erase?\|url=http://epic.org/privacy/ask/default.html\|publisher=Electronic Privacy Information Center\|accessdate=2008-03-10}}</ref>

	On July 4, 2008 InterActiveCorp announced the acquisition of Lexico Publishing Group, which owns ], ], and ].<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN0337985120080703?feedType=RSS&feedName=internetNews\|title=Ask.com closes acquisition of Dictionary.com\|publisher=]\|date=3 July 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web\|url=http://news.cnet.com/8300-10784_3-7-0.html?keyword=Dictionary.com\|title=Ask.com closes Dictionary.com deal\|publisher=]\|date=4 July 2008}}</ref>

	On April 20, 2009, the "Jeeves" character re-appeared on ask.com, standing on the left side of the page. His name, however, is still not mentioned. ask.co.uk still calls itself "Ask Jeeves", featuring the same character.

	]

	==International==		==International==

Revision as of 10:03, 30 January 2010

Ask.com

Type of business	Search Engine
Type of site	Search Engine
Founded	1996
Headquarters	Oakland, California,USA
Key people	Garrett Gruener David Warthen (Founders) Scott Garell (President, Ask Networks) Doug Leeds (President, Ask US)
Industry	Internet
Revenue	$227 million
Parent	InterActiveCorp
URL	Ask.com
Registration	Optional

Ask.com (or Ask Jeeves in the United Kingdom) is a search engine founded in 1996 by Garrett Gruener and David Warthen in Berkeley, California. The original search engine software was implemented by Gary Chevsky from his own design. Chevsky, Justin Grant, and others built the early AskJeeves.com website around that core engine. Three venture capital firms, Highland Capital Partners, Institutional Venture Partners, and The RODA Group were early investors. Ask.com is currently owned by InterActiveCorp under the NASDAQ symbol IACI.

History

International

The company uses different websites offering localized services for certain countries and its associated languages, including:

fr.ask.com (France)
uk.ask.com (Ask Jeeves) (United Kingdom)
de.ask.com (Germany)
es.ask.com (Spain)
it.ask.com (Italy)

Corporate details

Ask Jeeves, Inc. stock traded on the NASDAQ stock exchange from July 1999 to July 2005, under the ticker symbol ASKJ. In July 2005, the ASKJ ticker was retired upon the acquisition by InterActiveCorp, valuing ASKJ at $1.85 billion.

Ask Sponsored Listings

Ask Sponsored Listings is the search engine marketing tool offered to advertisers to increase the visibility of their websites (and subsequent businesses, services, and products) by producing more prominent and frequent search engine listing results.

Marketing and promotion

Information-revolution.org campaign

File:AskJeevesAstroturfingLogo.png

The logo used by Ask Jeeves at www.information- revolution.org

In early 2007, a number of advertisements appeared on London Underground trains warning commuters that 75% of all the information on the web flowed through one site (implied to be Google), with a URL for www.information-revolution.org.

Advertising

Apostolos Gerasoulis, the co-creator of Ask's Teoma algorithmic search technology, starred in four television advertisements in 2007, extolling the virtues of Ask.com's usefulness for information relevance. There was a Jeeves balloon in the 2001 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

NASCAR sponsorship

On January 14, 2009, Ask.com became the official sponsor of NASCAR driver Bobby Labonte's #96 car. Ask would become the official search engine of NASCAR. Ask.com will be the primary sponsor for the No. 96 for 18 of the first 21 races and has rights to increase this to a total of 29 races this season. The Ask.com car debuted in the 2009 Bud Shootout where it failed to finish the race but subsequently has come back strong placing as high as 5th in the March 1st, 2009 Shelby 427 race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Ask.com's foray into NASCAR is the first instance of its venture into what it calls Super Verticals.

Toolbar

References

External links

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