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Ask Jeeves makes its first profit
BBC.co.ukAsk Jeeves is the world’s second biggest search engine
Internet search engine Ask Jeeves has announced its first ever annual profit.
The US firm made a global operating profit of $22m (£12m) in 2003, compared to a loss of $5.4m in 2002.Ask Jeeves’ total revenue for the year came in at $107.3m, a $42m increase on 2002’s $65m figure, with money coming from placements and sponsorships.
The company, which has an autonomous UK operation, is the world’s second most popular internet search engine, but still far behind market leader Google.
Ask Jeeves has a global share of 6%, compared to Google’s more than 70%.
Different
Yet Ask Jeeves says it is confident of further increasing its revenue and market share.
Its UK chief executive Adrian Cox points to the company’s unique search software.
“A lot of our competitors just try to mimic Google, but we like to do it differently,” he said.
Mr Cox explains that while Google and its rivals will return the most popular answers to a search query – even if they are all very similar – Ask Jeeves’ software is specifically designed to offer a variety of different links.
“Our software is able to differentiate,” he said, “so the user gets a greater variety of answers.”
Focus
Google does however provide Ask Jeeves with some of its advertisement links.
Mr Cox says he is confident that Google’s forthcoming stock market flotation will be good news for the whole search engine industry.
“It will put the whole sector once more in the spotlight,” he said.
“And with our main competitor focused on its flotation, it may mean we can consolidate our own position.”
Ask Jeeves now expects its revenue to grow to $142m in 2004.
