Are Ask.com and Microsoft Getting Cozy?

[Kevin Newcomb]

Are the recent Ask.com and Microsoft deals a sign of things to come? Will Ask.com choose Microsoft for an ad partner when its deal with Google expires at the end of the year?

I've summarized a few of the recent developments that point in that direction on the SEW blog, in "Is an Ask-Microsoft Partnership on the Horizon? (http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/070806-162213)." Think those clues are leading to a deal, or is there something else going on here?

[Kevin Heisler]

Now that IAC put Ask on the blocks, it's a good time to take the industry pulse on who's buying who.

With all the money guys advising Yahoo and MSN to outsource PPC, does an Ask acquisition make sense?

Anyone think it's a good match for Facebook?

[Marcia]

original deal expired in 2005, but a 2-year extension was agreed upon by both partiesSo then, that means it's done at the end of 2007, which is only about a month away.

money guys advising Yahoo and MSN to outsource PPCI can't imagine who it could be outsourced to.