Ask.com
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Screenshot
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| Type of business | Private |
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Type of site
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Answer engine |
| Available in | English |
| Founded | June 1996 (as Ask Jeeves) |
| Headquarters | Oakland, California, U.S. |
| Owner | IAC |
| Created by |
Garrett Gruener David Warthen (Founders) Douglas Leeds (CEO) |
| Website | www |
| Alexa rank |
 94 (January 2017[update]) |
| Registration | Optional |
| Current status | Active |
Ask.com (originally known as Ask Jeeves) is a question answering-focused e-business and web search engine founded in 1996 by Garrett Gruener and David Warthen in Berkeley, California.
The original software was implemented by Gary Chevsky from his own design. Warthen, Chevsky, Justin Grant, and others built the early AskJeeves.com website around that core engine. In late 2010, facing insurmountable competition from more popular search engines, the company outsourced its web search technology and returned to its roots as a question and answer site.Douglas Leeds was elevated from president to CEO in 2010.
Ask.com has been criticized for its browser toolbar, which has been accused of behaving like malware due to its bundling with other software and the difficulty of its uninstallation.
Three venture capital firms, Highland Capital Partners, Institutional Venture Partners, and The RODA Group were early investors. Ask.com is currently owned by InterActiveCorp (IAC) under the NASDAQ symbol NASDAQ: IAC.
Ask.com's corporate headquarters are located at 555 City Center, in the Oakland City Center development in downtown Oakland, California.
Ask.com was originally known as Ask Jeeves, "Jeeves" being the name of a "gentleman's gentleman", or valet, fetching answers to any question asked. The character was based on Bertie Wooster's valet Jeeves, in the fictional works of P. G. Wodehouse. In movies, the Jeeves character was played by Arthur Treacher, the English actor who lent his name to another American franchise, Arthur Treacher's fish and chips.
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