Sign an agreement to support the search and portal functions at Excite.com.

Ask Jeeves, Inc., a provider of information retrieval technologies, brands and Internet advertising services, and InfoSpace, Inc., an online directory and private-label search provider, recently announced that they have entered into an agreement to support the search and portal functions at Excite.com.

The agreement is part of a comprehensive settlement of litigation involving the site. Under the terms of the agreement, both Ask Jeeves and InfoSpace will share marketing costs and revenue from the Excite.com web search function. Excite features personalized portals, customizable start page, search tools, a webmail platform and content and resources from providers. AskJeeves acquired Excite Europe on 20 May 2005.

"We look forward to working with InfoSpace to enhance the search experience on Excite, now that our interests are aligned. Both companies are now in a position to benefit from growing Excite usage and we expect this will translate into great benefits to Excite users," said Steve Berkowitz, CEO of Ask Jeeves, Inc.
  
"We are pleased to be working with Ask Jeeves to promote search on Excite. Leveraging the strengths of the portal and the search box makes sense for both companies and will allow us to grow traffic and revenues," said Jim Voelker, chairman and CEO of InfoSpace.