WebProNews

Layoffs, Google tie-in would remake Ask

Amid blog-driven hype over possible layoffs at Ask and the abandonment of the search engine in favor of Google comes a rebuttal of those potential moves by Ask parent IAC.

Chatter swirled over the weekend that Barry Diller's IAC would abandon the technology gains and algorithm-related branding efforts of Ask's search engine in favor of using Google's search. AOL has a similar deal in place that uses Google's search and advertising.

Ask also uses Google ads to deliver a substantial portion of its revenue stream. As PaidContent noted, the Google deal holds the possibility of a closer Ask-Google relationship:

We’ve learned that as part of the ad deal between IAC and Google, which the parties re-upped in November, there’s a clause allowing Google to engage more deeply with Ask’s algorithmic search. A decision to go with Google completely for search hasn’t been decided on definitively, but something along these lines may occur.

If that were to happen, layoffs rumored at Silicon Alley Insider and Valleywag could follow. Valleywag further stirred things up by citing an anonymous IAC executive complaining about Diller's "stinginess."

IAC's head honcho has his hands full with a power struggle with Liberty Media's John Malone these days. If sacrificing Ask to Google would give Diller more leverage in his legal battles with Malone, we're confident he would do so in a heartbeat.