Monday, May 09, 2005
Ask Jeeves stock falls on Spitzer spyware rumors - 2005-05-06:
"Search engine company Ask Jeeves saw its stock fall more than 3.5 percent on Friday morning after news that the company might be investigated by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.
Spitzer and his office are looking into the use of web software programs called adware and spyware. Earlier in the week, Spitzer's office said it would sue Intermix Media Inc., a software company, for using the web programs. His office also said it planned to investigate other companies for the same practice.
The spyware secretly installs itself on users' computers and studies their behavior in order to direct targeted advertisements to them.
Some news reports have suggested that Ask Jeeves might find itself one of the companies Spitzer is investigating.
Ask Jeeves' stock, which opened at $29.05 Friday, fell as low as $27.63 before climbing slowly back to close at $28.13, still down 2.83 percent.
In March, Ask Jeeves said it had agreed to be bought for $1.85 billion in stock by IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ:IACI). InterActiveCorp agreed to exchange each share of Ask Jeeves' stock for 1.2668 of its own. InterActiveCorp's shares closed down, too, on Friday, by 1.33 percent at $22.99. But the spread between the price the company offered for Ask Jeeves shares and their actual price has continued to widen.
An Ask Jeeves spokesman did not immediately return calls asking for comment."
"Search engine company Ask Jeeves saw its stock fall more than 3.5 percent on Friday morning after news that the company might be investigated by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.
Spitzer and his office are looking into the use of web software programs called adware and spyware. Earlier in the week, Spitzer's office said it would sue Intermix Media Inc., a software company, for using the web programs. His office also said it planned to investigate other companies for the same practice.
The spyware secretly installs itself on users' computers and studies their behavior in order to direct targeted advertisements to them.
Some news reports have suggested that Ask Jeeves might find itself one of the companies Spitzer is investigating.
Ask Jeeves' stock, which opened at $29.05 Friday, fell as low as $27.63 before climbing slowly back to close at $28.13, still down 2.83 percent.
In March, Ask Jeeves said it had agreed to be bought for $1.85 billion in stock by IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ:IACI). InterActiveCorp agreed to exchange each share of Ask Jeeves' stock for 1.2668 of its own. InterActiveCorp's shares closed down, too, on Friday, by 1.33 percent at $22.99. But the spread between the price the company offered for Ask Jeeves shares and their actual price has continued to widen.
An Ask Jeeves spokesman did not immediately return calls asking for comment."
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