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Ask Jeeves buys Excite Europe
By Laura Rohde

Ask Jeeves Inc. is continuing its European expansion with the acquisition of Excite Italia BV from Tiscali SpA for an undisclosed sum, the Web search engine company announced Friday. Excite Italia operates Excite Europe.

The deal is the logical next step in the company's European strategy, Ask Jeeves said in a statement. In April, Ask Jeeves launched of a test search engine site for Spain called Ask Jeeves España, which it said would be followed this year and beyond with similar sites for other western European countries.

Ask Jeeves will leverage Excite's pan-European operational infrastructure and market knowledge to speed up its European strategy, the company said. It believes the acquisition will provide an instant revenue stream from additional users and advertisers. However, the deal is not expected to have a material impact on revenue or earnings per share this year, said the company, which is based in Oakland, California.

Ask Jeeves, which is playing catch up in the European markets with rivals Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc., is itself part of another pressing deal, having agreed to be acquired by IAC/InterActiveCorp. in March. The media conglomerate headed by IAC Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Barry Diller, intends to buy Ask Jeeves in a stock deal valued at US$1.85 billion.

Excite will remain a separate brand under the Ask Jeeves umbrella, and will continue to operate out of its primary office in Rome, Ask Jeeves said. Excite currently operates portal services in a number of European markets including Spain, Italy, France, the U.K., Germany, Austria and the Netherlands.

Posted May 20, 2005 05:13 PM |