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Inside the Deal Bloglines: Ask Jeeves exec gets his news fix with acquisition San Francisco Business Times - February 18, 2005 by Adrienne Sanders * Print This Article Print this Article * Email this Article Email this Article * Reprints Reprints * RSS Feeds RSS Feeds * RSS Feeds Most Viewed * RSS Feeds Most Emailed Jim Lanzone wanted to buy what he knew. Or rather, what he was addicted to. Lanzone, senior vice president of Search Properties at Ask Jeeves, is a 20-times-a-day visitor of Bloglines, a blog index and Internet news funnel. The admitted media junkie (he used to compulsively hit "refresh" on The Drudge Report) checks Bloglines for updates on news, blogs, even his fantasy football team. "I began seeing how an integration (with Jeeves) would make sense," Lanzone said of the 18-month-old site which, like Jeeves, is a doorway to other information on the Net. "Being a fan of the service, I reached out to Mark Fletcher and set up lunch," Lanzone said of Bloglines' CEO. The two met on a scorching September afternoon in San Carlos' A Tavola restaurant. Overheated and overscheduled, they skipped past small talk. Lanzone learned that Redwood City-based Bloglines, which by some counts has 50 percent market share for so-called feed aggregators, was being courted by VC firms and other Internet outfits. They continued their conversation again in November at a Berkeley noodle shop over seared ahi tuna. Fletcher, an entrepreneur who founded and sold eGroups to Yahoo, liked the idea of gaining Ask Jeeves' financial and technological support. Oakland-based Ask Jeeves, now the sixth most-visited Internet property, earned net income of $53 million on revenue of $261 million, representing annual growth of 103 percent and 143 percent, respectively. Ask Jeeves, which employs about 500, added 200 employees last year, most through its acquisition of Interactive Search Holdings' properties, including MyWay, iWon and MySearch portal sites. Ask Jeeves assured Fletcher it would preserve Bloglines' brand (as it had with other acquisitions) and keep Fletcher on as vice president and general manager of Bloglines. Ask Jeeves' would gain Bloglines' traffic, large database of archived articles and blog publishing software. Ask Jeeves' CEO Steve Berkowitz, an early Bloglines adopter, was keen on the deal. When Bloglines users learned the company was being acquired by Ask Jeeves on Feb. 8, many fretted publicly. "Email and blog postings were overwhelmingly saying, 'I hope nothing changes. Don't mess it up," Lanzone said. Ask Jeeves will keep its hands off Bloglines in the near term, giving Fletcher freedom to grow the site. Eventually, however, they'll need to figure out how to squeeze bucks from Bloglines. Industry watchers guess the company has minimal revenue, and the companies won't comment on the terms of the acquisition. Media expert John Battelle reckons it cost $14 million, though others guess as much as $25 million. Adrienne Sanders can be reached at (415) 288-4931 or asanders@bizjournals.com. Contact the Editor Need Assistance? More Latest News [redarrow.gif] Subscribe or renew online Related Industry stories * Google nearly doubles Q3 profit [San Jose] * Georgia Bancshares profit up [Atlanta] * TeleTech unveils at-home model [Denver] * Ameren, RCIG join to provide Internet via existing wiring [St. Louis] * Artists brush off galleries [Sacramento] Related Company stories * Ask jettisons Jeeves [San Francisco] * Ask unveils 'world class' updates [East Bay] * Florida company to add 600 jobs in eastern N.C. [Raleigh/Durham] * Ask.com launches new blog search tools [East Bay] * Ask Jeeves buys "addictive" blog search company [San Francisco] * Ask Jeeves acquires Bloglines [San Jose] Today's Latest News Stories * Former H-P CEO discusses challenges of changing company's culture * Freddie Mac CEO sees bumpy ride ahead for home owners * California Realtors see home prices falling in 2007 * Charles Schwab boosts dividend 67 percent in latest sign of comeback * Impairment charge bites into Exar's Q2 profit * Most Viewed Stories * Most Emailed Stories * People in the News powered by onTargetjobs San Francisco jobs * Director, Clinical Operations * Sr. Research Associate I * Clinical Laboratory Manager * TEAL LIFT TEAM MEMBER - STAFFING OFFICE (PT 12 hr Day) * Supervisor - Outpatient Pharmacy (SRO-101288) Search Jobs | Post Resume | View More Employers - Post a Job Today » Sign up for breaking news alerts. 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