Ask beats Answers with $300 million bid for About.com

Advertisement
By Associated Press | Updated: 28 August 2012 09:34 IST
Ask beats Answers with $300 million bid for About.com
The New York Times Co. is selling its troubled online information service, About.com, to the parent company of Ask.com for $300 million in cash.

That offer trumped a $270 million bid from Answers.com that was reported three weeks ago.

The Times and IAC/InterActiveCorp announced the deal late Sunday. IAC, which also operates the dating site Match.com, is controlled by media mogul Barry Diller.

About provides information on a wide variety of topics and also operates ConsumerSearch.com and CalorieCount.com. Content is written by paid experts known as guides. Ask is a search engine that has tried to set itself apart from competitors by focusing on finding answers to search requests posed in the form of a question. Ask still ranks far below Google and Microsoft's Bing in terms of use.

IAC said Ask and About will continue to operate as separate sites and will complement each other. The Ask search engine can draw on content from About in answering those search queries, and Ask can boost traffic to About by directing more users there.

Advertisement

The Times purchased About in 2005 for some $410 million. About has suffered in the past year because a change in the way Google handles search results made About content harder to find.

In the April-June quarter, the Times took a $126 million after-tax charge against earnings to reflect the declining value of the About business.

Advertisement

In that quarter, revenue from About fell 9 percent from a year ago to $25.4 million. Its adjusted operating profit fell 30 percent to $10.2 million.

Although the Times had been upbeat over About's prospects, Times Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said the sale allows the company to focus on its core brands, which include such newspapers as The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune and The Boston Globe.

Advertisement

Times' stock fell 11 cents to close at $9.11 Monday. The shares are close to the 52-week high of $9.57 hit last week.

Shares of IAC, also based in New York, rose 42 cents to $51.92. They hit a 52-week high of $54.20 a month ago.

 

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Advertisement
Popular Mobile Brands
  1. Nothing Phone 3 to Get New Glyph Matrix Interface on the Rear Panel
  2. Oppo Reno 14 5G Series Teased to Launch in India Soon
  3. Samsung Galaxy M36 5G India Launch Date and Key Features Revealed
  4. OnePlus Bullets Wireless Z3 With Up to 36 Hours Battery Launched in India
  5. Poco F7 5G to Be Equipped With a Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 SoC
  6. Vodafone Idea to Bring Direct-to-Device Satellite Connectivity to India
  1. Fast Radio Bursts Reveal Universe’s Missing Matter Hidden in Cosmic Intergalactic Fog
  2. Apollo Astronauts Found Orange Glass Beads on the Moon, Scientists Now Know Why
  3. World’s Oldest Tailored Dress Found in Egyptian Tomb Dates Back Over 5,000 Years
  4. Ancient Footprints in White Sands Confirm Humans Reached America 23,000 Years Ago
  5. Humanoid Robot Achieves Controlled Flight Using Jet Propulsion and AI Systems
  6. Curiosity Rover Reaches Uyuni Quad, Begins New Mars Mapping and Surface Analysis Campaign
  7. NASA to Gather Reentry Imagery of European Commercial Capsule Using High-Altitude Aircraft
  8. ESA's Proba-3 Unveils First-Ever Artificial Solar Eclipse Images from Precision Satellite Formation
  9. My Hero Academia Final Season OTT Release Date Revealed: Everything You Need to Know
  10. NASA Study Reveals Correlation Between Earth’s Magnetic Field and Atmospheric Oxygen
Gadgets 360 is available in
Download Our Apps
Available in Hindi
© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2025. All rights reserved.