14 DAY TRIAL // If you think the search landscape is unbalanced now, things are about to get even worse. For all intents and purposes there are three players in the search market right now, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft. For several years though there has been a perennial fourth, Ask.com, which hasn't managed to get any traction in the search engine market but, at the same time it hasn't lost market share either, hovering at about four percent. The site's current owners though are becoming weary of further investment and may be hanging a “for sale” sign according to several reports.
During a conference call after revealing Ask.com owners the IAC/InterActiveCorp's financial results for the third quarter, the company's CEO Barry Diller made comments hinting at the possible sale of the search engine. While he didn't imply that anything was currently on the table, it does look like he may be looking for a buyer.
"We've been asked a lot whether we're open to consolidating transactions in the area of search. The answer is yes," Diller said. "And, it is unlikely that we would be the consolidator." According to sources Diller is disappointed by the lack of growth at the search engine since 2005 when it was acquired.
He went on to note the competitive market the search engine is facing but underlined the fact that there wasn't anything concrete yet. This comes in direct response to numerous questions about possible acquisitions Ask.com might make. At the time the company is sitting on $1.8 billion in cash, leading to speculation that it may be inclined to spend some of that money on acquisitions.
While not dismissing acquisitions altogether, the CEO believes that much of that capital will make its way to the shareholders rather than being spent on buying other companies or even investing that much in itself, for that matter. In fact, IAC has apparently spent under $50 million on its businesses this year.