NEW YORK and OAKLAND, Calif., March 21 — IAC/InterActiveCorp (Nasdaq: IACI) and Ask Jeeves, Inc. (Nasdaq: ASKJ) today announced they have signed an agreement under which IAC will purchase Ask Jeeves. Under the terms of the agreement, IAC will issue 1.2668 shares of common stock for each share of Ask Jeeves common stock in a tax-free transaction valued at $1.85 billion net of cash acquired. IAC intends to buy back through its previously authorized share repurchase programs at least 60% of the number of shares it will issue for this acquisition, thus effectively offsetting a substantial portion of the dilution from the transaction with cash. IAC expects the acquisition to be accretive to 2005 Adjusted EPS assuming the buyback at the 60% level.

http://www.irconnect.com/askjinc/pages/news_releases.html?d=74889