The Scoop...

The way it all began

Ask Jeeves is a search engine with an unusual mascot: a proper English butler who "understands" natural language queries. In 1991, Berkeley venture capitalist Garrett Gruener and software developer David Warthen envisioned an online portal that companies like CompuServe could use to translate English language questions into search strings. The two founders worked on other projects for a few years, but realized by 1995 that they could not ignore the growing power of the Internet - and thus Ask Jeeves was born from the seed of their original idea. In June 1996, Ask Jeeves incorporated with six people on board, and the site launched in April of the following year. The company was mainly funded by individual investors when traditional venture capital firms would not support the internet startup. By the end of 1999, the company had over 300 employees and corporate clients like Microsoft, Dell, and Toshiba, who use Ask Jeeves's natural language technology as part of their customer support services.

No question too obscure

Ask Jeeves operates on a very simple premise: people like to ask computers questions the same way that they would ask another person. With the help of several proprietary tools, Ask Jeeves strives to help its users find exactly what they're looking for on the Web. The company has a database of millions of question templates, each of which fits into a corresponding answer template that provides links to web sites providing information on the subject of the query. The use of "smart lists" eases use of the site by linking an individual question template to several answers, and Ask Jeeves's Questions Processing Engine (QPE) uses semantic and syntactic processing to enable computers to understand natural language questions. In March 1998, the company launched Ask Jeeves for Kids (www.ajkids.com), a children's version of the main site that filters out objectionable material.

In an effort to personalize the Internet, Ask Jeeves has since launched its VOIP (voice-over-Internet Protocol) strategy through a technology swap agreement with Trillium Digital Systems. This service allows the company's corporate clients to hold real-time voice conversations with customers. In January 2000, Ask Jeeves also acquired Direct Hit Technologies Inc., a company that tracks and analyzes consumer behavior patterns, to provide more relevant answers to visitors of the Ask Jeeves site. Similarly, the launch of Webwide Navigational Services on portals such as MSN, Go2Net, and ZDNet will introduce new products like Jeeves Popularity Search, Jeeves Directory Search, and Jeeves Compare. Not only will these services provide a more relevant search for users, but it easily distinguishes the company from many of its competitors. Waiting on corporate America

After Ask Jeeves went public in July 1999, the company inked deals with several corporate partners. It signed with Martha Stewart Living to provide answers to questions such as, "How much should I pay for my wedding?," and with companies like Hewlett-Packard to answer customer service questions. Indeed, Ask Jeeves hopes to develop its corporate question answering service to reach one-to-one revenue parity with its consumer question answering division; as of 1999, revenue from consumer services outpaced those of corporate by about two to one. The company expects profitability by 2002, but until then is expected to bleed at a rate of more than $10 million per quarter. Revenues for 1999 rose to $22.0 million from $800,000 the year before, though net losses also increased to $52.9 million from $6.8 million in 1998. The company is now ranked 12th among portals/search engines, according to Nielson/NetRatings, and is a Top 30 site, according to research provided by Media Metrix.

Donde estan las preguntas?

Ask Jeeves announced in July 2000 that it had signed deals with Web portals Italia Online of Italy, Cacha of Singapore and El Mundo of Spain, allowing users to ask questions in their native languages.

Plummeting stock prices

Perhaps the question that investors most want to ask Jeeves is, "Why, if revenues are rising, is your stock so low?" After reaching a high of $190.50 in November 1999, Ask Jeeves' stock has plummeted to below $20. Compounding the problem, President and COO Ted Briscoe left the company in June, to head to Play Streaming Media Group, a 12-person startup.

Pack your things

December was a month of notable departures, both voluntary and involuntary. Early in the month, after the company announced that losses per share for the fourth quarter of 2000 would be $.50 rather than the projected $.33, CEO Rob Wrubel stepped down to assume the position of executive vice president of market development. Board member A. George Battle has replaced him as interim CEO. Wrubel also resigned from Ask Jeeves' board of directors. Within a week the company had also announced substantial job cuts. The company will cut 25% of its staff, or 180 jobs, in order to save $45 million in 2001. The restructuring was undertaken as part of an effort to reach profitability by the close of 2001.