Ask Jeeves

Ask Jeeves was a natural language search engine founded in 1996 by Garrett Gruener and David Warthen in Berkeley, California. It launched in 1997 with the concept of answering plain-English questions rather than keyword queries. The company went public in 1999 and grew to become a major early internet search destination. In July 2005, Ask Jeeves was acquired by IAC for approximately $1.85 billion. In February 2006, the 'Jeeves' character was retired and the service was rebranded as Ask.com, which continues to operate as a content and Q&A site under IAC's ownership.