<PAGE>
Exhibit 99.2 Press Release dated December 12, 2000
Tracy Urquhart Heather Staples
Ask Jeeves Investor Relations Ask Jeeves Public Relations
Ph: (510) 985-7455 Ph: (510) 985-7610
[email protected] [email protected]
For Immediate Release
----------------------
Ask Jeeves Announces Completion of its Business Realignment
Company Restructures operations; anticipates savings of $45 million in 2001 and
confirms profitability target of Q4 2001
Emeryville, Calif., December 12, 2000 -- Ask Jeeves, Inc.(R) (Nasdaq: ASKJ), a
leading provider of question answering technologies and services, today
announced that it has completed the realignment of its organization into two
customer-centric businesses. Costs associated with the realignment will
require a one-time pre-tax restructuring charge of between $10 million and $12
million, which includes costs associated with a workforce reduction of
approximately 180 full-time employees, or 25 percent of the Company's employee
base. As a result of these and other initiatives, Ask Jeeves expects to realize
cost savings of approximately $45 million in 2001 and to achieve profitability
in the fourth quarter of 2001.
Ask Jeeves has completed its planned initiative to align its organization to
best serve customer needs and pursue new market opportunities. Through the
realignment, Ask Jeeves has formed two independent business units, Business
Solutions and Web Properties, which each now have independent profit and loss
accountability, including separate sales, marketing and engineering resources.
Ask Jeeves Business Solutions includes all revenue streams that are derived from
companies licensing Ask Jeeves' technology. Ask Jeeves Web Properties includes
all revenue streams generated from sales of Ask Jeeves Targeting Solutions on
Ask.com, DirectHit.com and AJKids.com. These changes are effective immediately.
Skip Battle, CEO of Ask Jeeves, said, "We have taken the steps that we believe
will produce sustainable, long-term, profitable growth. We believe the
realignment creates a stronger organization that has the financial,
organizational and technology assets in place to transition Ask Jeeves into the
mainstream economy. As a result of our restructuring, we remain confident in our
target of operating profitability in the fourth quarter of 2001 and believe that
we can deliver annual revenue growth of 30 percent."
The one-time pre-tax charge of between $10 million and $12 million will be
recorded in the current quarter and includes severance and personnel costs
resulting from a workforce reduction, write downs to net realizable value of
certain assets and other corporate expenditures associated with the
restructuring. Approximately 50 percent of the total restructuring charge is
expected to represent actual cash costs.
Adam Klein, president of Ask Jeeves, commenting on the company's restructuring
said, "In the last year Ask Jeeves experienced hyper-growth and became over-
resourced for the new market environment. We recognize
<PAGE>
that this has impacted good people who made significant contributions to Ask
Jeeves and we thank them for their role in our growth."
Klein added, "In spite of the changing market dynamics, we believe we have
established a solid foundation from which to grow, including 125 major global
corporations as customers, a top 20 Web property and a leadership position in
natural-language navigation and customer insight technologies. We have realigned
the organization to leverage these core assets and exit 2000 with a stronger
business model that produces the consistent growth and profitability our
shareholders expect."
Ask Jeeves anticipates announcing its 2000 fourth quarter and year-end results
in late January 2001.
Conference Call Information
---------------------------
Ask Jeeves will be holding a conference call to discuss this announcement at
5:30 p.m. EDT, Tuesday December 12, 2000. The call is available through the Web
at www.ask.com/investor. For those unable to listen to the live call, a replay
--------------------
will be available beginning at approximately 6:30 p.m. EST, Tuesday, December 12
through 5:30 p.m. EDT, Tuesday, December 19, 2000.
About Ask Jeeves, Inc.
Ask Jeeves is a leading provider of intuitive, intelligent question answering
technologies and services. Ask Jeeves' solutions enable companies to convert
online shoppers to buyers, reduce support costs, understand customer preferences
and improve customer retention. Ask Jeeves also syndicates its solutions to
portals, infomediaries, and content and destination sites to help companies
increase e-commerce and advertising revenue. Ask Jeeves deploys its solutions on
Ask Jeeves at ask.com, Ask Jeeves for Kids at ajkids.com and DirectHit.com to
help companies target and acquire qualified prospects online and to provide
consumers with real-time access to information, products and services. For more
information, visit http://www.ask.com or call 510-985-7400.
Forward Looking Statements
Except for historical information contained in this press release, the foregoing
contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties.
Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-
looking statements based on a variety of risks and uncertainties, including
risks and uncertainties relating to factors such as the timely and successful
development and market acceptance of our products, services and features, our
ability to successfully attract and retain customers, our profitability targets
and financial metrics, the number, size and duration of contracts, changes in
advertising rates and software prices, activities of competitors, demand for our
products, volume of e-commerce business and general economic conditions. The
guidance contained in this press release is based on limited information
available to the Company today, which is subject to change. Although the
guidance provided in this press release may change after today, the Company
undertakes no obligation to revise or update these forward-looking statements
after today. Further information about potential factors that could affect our
financial results is included in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and most
recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, which have been filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
# # #
Ask Jeeves is a registered trademark of Ask Jeeves, Inc. The "Ask" button,
Jeeves Answers, Jeeves Live and Ask.com are trademarks and service marks of Ask
Jeeves, Inc. Other trademarks and brands are the property of their respective
owners.
