jimbeetle - 3:15 pm on Mar 21, 2005 (gmt 0)

I think the deal is all about integration, the one thing IAC has lacked.

I've always said that AJ/Teoma are the best little SEs without any consumer awareness, with at best just a few bucks of advertising during the run-up to the holiday season each year.

After a $2 billion purchase price, throwing what would relatively be chump change at promotion (a la all the hotels.com ads and commercials), would have a big impact on Jeeves usage.

Then, seed the top of the SERPs with IAC properties as Yahoo does with its channels, such as Shopping, Travel, Real Estate and Personals -- to name the four cats in which IAC is already strong -- and you have the start of some nice integration.

Or, how 'bout the Jeeves acquisition being just the SE portion of a straight Yahoo-like portal?

<aside>Diller and Yahoo's Terry Semel -- Is it coincidence that two Hollywood types are among the most successful web marketers?</aside>