IAC's Barry Diller Surrenders to Google, Ends Ask.com's Search Effort

Ask.com, the Internet search engine that media mogul Barry Diller acquired for $1.85 billion to compete with Google, is cutting 130 engineering jobs and conceding much of its search business to competitors.

The search unit will consolidate its engineering operations at its headquarters and focus its resources on developing its online question-and-answer service. Ask.com President Doug Leeds said that Google has become too powerful a competitor to justify Ask.com's continued pursuit of search users. Google, the number one search provider, controls 65 percent of all U.S. searches, according to Nielsen Co. Ask.com, ranked sixth among search providers, has less than 2 percent.