OAKLAND, Calif., May 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ask.com
(http://www.ask.com), a leading search engine and wholly-owned business of IAC
(Nasdaq: IACI), today announced an agreement to acquire Lexico Publishing
Group LLC - the owner of Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com, and Reference.com, in
an all-cash transaction. More than half a billion monthly worldwide searches
consist of dictionary, thesaurus, and encyclopedia queries, according to
comScore.
The Lexico acquisition will grow the Ask Network user base to more than
145 million unduplicated monthly unique users (UUs) worldwide, an increase of
11%, according to March 2008 comScore data. This would rank the Ask Network as
the 9th largest Web property in the world - ahead of Apple Inc. and Facebook -
in monthly worldwide UUs (comScore World Metrix, March 2008). Ask.com and
Lexico's demographics are nearly identical, creating strong potential for
cycling traffic between both companies' user bases.
"Lexico is a lean and fast-growing business with rapid top- and bottom-
line growth, and is a natural addition for Ask.com," said Jim Safka, CEO of
Ask.com. "More than 30 percent of all searches conducted on Ask.com are in the
reference category. In fact, 'dictionary' was the second-most searched term on
Ask.com in 2007. At the same time, Lexico's consumers frequently seek out a
search engine immediately before and after using one of Lexico's sites. This
acquisition expands Ask.com's reach and aligns perfectly with our customers'
needs."
Lexico's key strengths include:
-- 15.6 M monthly UUs, growing 29% year-over-year (comScore, March 2008)
-- Lexico sites grew three times faster than the global search market,
which grew 9.5% year-over-year (comScore, March 2008)
-- Profitable, high double-digit growth for the past two years
-- 88% of traffic consists of users who directly type Lexico sites' URLs
into their browsers, demonstrating brand strength and minimal reliance
on intermediary sites
"I can't imagine a better home for Lexico sites than Ask.com, given its
leadership in search technology and product innovation," said Brian Kariger,
CEO and Co-Founder of Lexico. "This integration will give the Lexico sites a
better consumer experience and even more useful for finding answers."
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The transaction remains subject to
customary closing conditions.
About Ask.com
Ask.com, a wholly-owned business of IAC (NASDAQ: IACI), is one of the
leading general search engines on the Internet. The Ask Network of sites has
more than 130 million worldwide unique monthly users according to March 2008
comScore data. Ask.com syndicates its search technology and advertising
solutions to a network of affiliate partners.
Lexico Publishing Group, LLC
Founded in 1995, Lexico Publishing Group, LLC is a leading provider of
free online reference services including Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com and
Reference.com. Lexico was recently named one of America's 500 fastest-growing
private companies by Inc. Magazine, and has been called "the best general
English-language dictionary online" by Web Guide magazine. Lexico Publishing
provides Dictionary.com Word of the Day Mailing List, a daily e-mail
vocabulary lesson; Thesaurus.com, the award-winning online version of Roget's
New Millennium(TM) Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases; Reference.com, an
encyclopedia, almanac, and general reference guide; and CleverKeys(R), free
software that gives instant access to definitions and synonyms from Windows
and Macintosh programs. Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com, and Reference.com
combined to serve more than 28 million unique visitors as of March 2008. The
Word of the Day Mailing List has more than 1 million subscribers.
SOURCE Ask.com
