Nominee Profile: Ask Jeeves

The Company:
Ask Jeeves, Inc. is a provider of Web-wide search technologies, providing consumers with authoritative and fast ways to find relevant information to their everyday searches. Ask Jeeves deploys its search technologies on Ask Jeeves (Ask.com and Ask.co.uk), Teoma.com, and Ask Jeeves for Kids (AJKids.com). In addition to its Web sites, Ask Jeeves syndicates its monetized search technology and advertising units to a network of affiliate partners. Ask Jeeves is based in Emeryville, California, with offices in New York, Boston, New Jersey, Los Angeles and London.  Learn more at www.ask.com.

On Why They Have Entered The American Business Awards:
Ask Jeeves has entered the American Business Awards because management believes the successful turnaround of the company warrants accolades and attention.

Ask Jeeves embarked on its turnaround by refining the priorities of the organization to put greater focus on search and customer needs. Ask Jeeves also hired a more seasoned management team, including current CEO, Steve Berkowitz, who helped lead the charge of the company turnaround as the then President of Ask Jeeves Web Properties.

In 2003, Ask Jeeves continued to deliver on its promise of offering a great user search experience. The company announced the elimination of all pop-up advertising, banners and interstitials on its Web site; a move that was heralded by users who once claimed that the Ask.com Web site was too cluttered.  Ask Jeeves also announced a major site redesign and upgrade in the spring of 2003, and introduced the concept of “Smart Search,” which enables users to conduct more effective searches by helping narrow, broaden or more directly answer user queries. The functionalities include direct answers to weather, stocks and conversions, as well as further advanced product search capabilities.

The company’s stock performance during 2003 speaks volumes to the turnaround. Ask Jeeves was the 51^st ranked stock out of 3229 companies on the NASDAQ and was the 7^th best performing stock in the Bay Area for 2003. The price of Ask Jeeves stock has soared more than 500% this year and is currently trading at $18.23. The company continues to grow its market share and has grown its traffic 76% during 2003.

Lastly, Ask Jeeves was recently featured on the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather as a technology company that is hiring and whose outlook is bright for 2004.