Diller Should Be Selling

Here's a question to type into the Ask Jeeves (ASKJ Quote) search engine: Just when will Barry Diller admit that IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI Quote) has been knocked out of the battle to be an Internet titan?

On Monday, Diller's IAC said it plans to spend around $1.8 billion purchasing the Web search engine Ask Jeeves, which started life as a site on which people could ask questions and then be forwarded to Web pages that might contain the answers.

While the deal has some Wall Street analysts enthused, it looks like an expensive and defensive maneuver by Diller, whose travel-focused Internet acquisition strategy has left investors so confused and disappointed that IAC's stock trades nearly 40% below its 52-week high. ...