Ask Jeeves, Inc., a provider of information retrieval technologies, brands, and Internet advertising services, has announced the acquisition of Excite Italia B.V., the operator of Excite Europe, a network of pan-European portal properties, from Tiscali, S.p.A. Ask Jeeves acquired the U.S.-operated Excite.com portal in March 2004. The acquisition of Excite Europe will extend Ask Jeeves' ownership of the Excite brand beyond the United States, giving the company ownership of Excite's Internet domains throughout Europe as well as control of existing portal offerings in several major European markets including Spain, Italy, France, UK, Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands. The acquisition provides access to resources in the European portal market in terms of users, operations, market knowledge, and revenue streams. Ask Jeeves will also have the ability to extend its search technology to Excite Europe users. Excite will remain a separate brand under Ask Jeeves Inc., with operations continuing out of Excite Europe's headquarters in Rome, Italy. The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
(www.ask.com)