Ask Jeeves Serves Up Big Business Deals 12/10/99
Newsbytes, Friday, December 10, 1999 at 15:51
EMERYVILLE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1999 DEC 10 (NB) -- By Bob Woods,
Newsbytes. Ask Jeeves Inc. [NASDAQ:ASKJ], the company that employs a
virtual "butler" to answer Web surfers' questions, announced separate
deals with Compaq Computer Corp. [NYSE:CPQ], Microsoft Corp.'s
[NASDAQ:MSFT] WebTV Networks and About.com Inc. [NASDAQ:BOUT].
Ask Jeeves said it inked a seven-figure multi-year agreement with
Compaq to expand the computer maker's use of the "Ask Jeeves
Corporate Question Answering Service" from a few areas of the Compaq
Website to manage online customer support for all products,
including Himalaya and Alpha.
Compaq customers will be able to "Ask Compaq" - via the Web -
questions within all product areas and get answers 24 hours a day,
seven days a week starting in January 2000. Sample questions include
"What type of memory do I need to upgrade a DeskPro EN?" or "How can
I upgrade the processor in a Presario?"
WebTV's pact was renewed for two more years at an undetermined price,
Ask Jeeves officials said. Through the extension, WebTV subscribers
will continue to be able to get answers to questions such as "How do
I print from my WebTV Plus receiver?" or "Can I send images in
e-mail?"
Features of Ask Jeeves' Corporate Question Answering Service provide
customers with real-time personal services, ranging from self-service
to live help. Other subscribers to the service include AltaVista,
BellSouth, Datek Online, Dell Computer, E*Trade, Iomega, Martha
Stewart Living Omnimedia, Micron Electronics, Microsoft,
MyPoints.com, Office Depot, Oxygen Media, Toshiba Corp.
and Williams-Sonoma Inc.
Ask Jeeves also is serving niche vertical Website publisher About.com
with its question-answering services. Terms of the pact call for Ask
Jeeves' service to appear on all of About.com's search-results pages.
About.com, meanwhile, will be put on all of Ask Jeeves' question-
response pages. Through the placements, Ask Jeeves will be able to
access content by linking directly into relevant articles in
About.com's network of topic-specific sites.
Financial details surrounding the About.com deal were not released.
Shares of Ask Jeeves were up $0.938, or 0.7 percent, at $133.438
apiece at 1:45 PM EST. The stock had traded as high as $140 per share
just after the market opened this morning.
Earlier this week, Ask Jeeves announced plans to take its service to
a worldwide audience through the formation of its new Ask Jeeves
International wholly owned subsidiary.
The company also said it had formed its first country-specific joint
venture, joining with UK television companies Carlton Communications
plc and Granada Media Group to create Ask Jeeves UK.
Ask Jeeves International will own 50 percent of Ask Jeeves UK, while
a newly formed joint venture between Carlton and Granada Media Group
will hold the other 50 percent. Through the joint venture, Carlton
and Granada Media Group are contributing $62.5 million in cash and
advertising to fund the development, launch and operations of Ask
Jeeves UK.
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