] HipMojo.com » IAC’s $100M Obsession

IAC’s $100M Obsession

Last year Barry Diller decided to get serious about search and plunked down $100M in an ill-fated advertising campaign for Ask.com. Today, Ask.com’s market share is lower than it was last year.

Let’s hope the company’s Chinese ambitions will fare better. Today the company said that it would spend a whopping $100M on its Chinese strategy. I’m not sure if my use of the term whopping is cynical.

Frankly, $100M was way too much to spend on an advertising campaign, but not enough to spend on China… where deeper pocketed competitors like Yahoo!, eBay and Google have all faced challenges against local players.

If I were Barry Diller, I’d spend that $100M on investments and partial acquisitions in Chinese startups, and not on investing in Ask.com’s own properties, frankly.

In fact, this is exactly the advice I gave Diller earlier this year: don’t waste $100M in advertising why Ask.com is a better mouse trap, invest in small, niche search companies, technology and applications that would enhance Ask.com’s position in search.

Interestingly, that sounds like the plan, maybe:

“Diller said he would consider buying an existing company, but would prefer to establish a new business, perhaps by backing a Chinese entrepreneur.”

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Posted By: Ashkan Karbasfrooshan | Nov 23rd

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