Ask.com Buys Dictionary.com Company Lexico

Internet portal Ask.com has announced it has entered a deal to acquire Lexico, the company behind dictionary.com and other reference sites.

Internet search portal Ask.com—which a few months ago announced it would be making itself over as an Internet portal for women—has announced a deal to aquire Lexico, the company behind dictionary.com and other online reference sites like reference.com and thesaurus.com. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it will be an all-cash transaction.

The move seems geared toward drawing more online eyeballs to Ask.com properties: according to comScore, Lexico’s properties have seen a 29 percent year-on-year increase to 15.6 million unique visitors in March 2008. That growth rate is three times faster than the global search market, and Ask.com says that, combined with Ask.com’s existing traffic stream, the acquisition will make them the ninth largest Web property on the planet—although we’re not sure that takes into account today’s announcement that CBS is buying CNet. Ask.com says the sites’ demographics are very similar, creating a strong potential for synergy between their online offerings.

“More than 30 percent of all searches conducted on Ask.com are in the reference category,” said Ask.com CEO Jim Safka, in a statement. “In fact, ‘dictionary’ was the second-most searched term on Ask.com in 2007. At the same time, Lexico’s consumers frequently seek out a search engine immediately before and after using one of Lexico’s sites. This acquisition expands Ask.com’s reach and aligns perfectly with our customers’ needs.”