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AUSTIN, Texas - Internet media conglomerate IAC/InteractiveCorp. late Wednesday named Jim Safka the new chief executive of its Ask.com property, as part of several executive management changes in preparation for  an upcoming move to split $10 billion IAC into five separate publicly traded companies. Jim Lanzone, 36 years old, steps down as Ask.com's CEO after being credited by IAC chairman and chief executive Barry Diller with helping to turn the search engine around over the past two years, and will now join venture capital firm Redpoint Ventures as an entrepreneur in residence, according to a statement issued Wednesday. Safka, 39 years old, will oversee Ask.com's global operations, while continuing in his role as chief executive of Primal Ventures, the venture capital branch of IAC. In the coming months Lanzone will help advise Safka during the transition. "These changes are intended to strengthen and streamline the operating structure at IAC, both leading up to our intended spin-offs, and beyond," Diller said. Part of Upcoming Five Way Split In November 2007 media veteran Diller announced a major company restructuring move splitting IAC's four biggest divisions, Interval International, online ticketing service Ticketmaster, Web mortgage broker LendingTree and the Home Shopping Network, into separate companies, as reported by SearchEngineWorld, a plan which is expected to take place later this year. The restructuring comes as IAC places more emphasis on its online advertising and media businesses, including Ask.com which it acquired for $1.85 billion in July 2005 and plans to push as its premier brand. Noting the difficulty Ask.com has had gaining ground against search leader Google, Diller spoke of the types of changes needed to speed up progress in an investor conference. "We have certainly not bitten an inch out of the hide of Google," Diller said. "I've been daunted by the progress of that," he added. About Incoming CEO Safka Oakland, California-based Ask.com's new chief executive previously led dating Web site Match.com from 2004 to 2006 as its chief executive, helping it increase revenue by 25 percent and operating income more than 50 percent.  Before heading up Match.com, which presently has 15 million members in 35 countries, Safka held senior management roles at AT&T Wireless and ETrade Financial Corporation, preceded by product management positions at Intuit, Alberto-Culver, Inc., Warner Bros. Inc., and Paramount Pictures, according to the IAC statement. Safka, who some see as a marketing guru inside IAC, was educated at the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, where he received an M.B.A., and at the University of Southern California where he earned a B.S. in accounting. Safka sees Ask.com as the premier brand for IAC. "In the new IAC, it's going to be a flagship brand. Ask is at the very beginning of its growth," Safka told Reuters in a recent article. About Outgoing CEO Lanzone Lanzone served as Ask.com's vice president of product management, joining the company in 2001, and during his tenure helped grow the firm, according to Diller. "Jim Lanzone was the principal executive responsible for Ask.com's turnaround over the last two years. His passion for innovation and his every day dedication to the business and its people have been everything anyone could ask for," said Diller. "He is a superb executive and
leader and I'm hopeful we can be associated in the future," Diller added. In April 2006 Lanzone filled the chief executive spot vacated by former CEO Steve Berkowitz who departed for a position as Microsoft. Before joining Ask.com Lanzone co-founded pioneering information retrieval firm eTour, serving as its president until it was acquired by Ask.com in May 2001. Earlier in his career Lanzone worked in product marketing at Thomson Corporation's public record search site KnowX.com, after receiving his B.A. from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles and an M.B.A. from Emory University. Several Management Changes Announced Also announced by IAC Wednesday was the appointment of Scott Garell, 42 years old, as president of Ask.com, who will report to Safka while managing the search engine company's worldwide business operations. Garell joins Ask.com after serving since 2005 as chief executive of IAC's Consumer Applications and Portals arm, which includes Evite, Pronto, and Fun Web Products, which have grown 74 percent during the past three years according to IAC. Earlier Garell served IAC as executive vice president of domestic sites and search, managing Ask.com, My Way, and iWon, according to IAC's Wednesday statement. Garell began his tenure at IAC Search and Media in April 2004 as senior vice president of marketing, after previously working in senior roles at Computer Associates, Citysearch and Clorox. In an additional executive management change at IAC, John Park was appointed to replace Garell, the company said. Park will oversee such IAC properties as:  | Zwinky | | | Excite.com | | | Webfetti | | | Smiley Central | | | CursorMania | | | My Fun Cards | | | Popular Screensavers | | | iWon | | | My Way | Park, 38 years old, has served IAC in senior management positions since 1999, most recently as executive vice president and general manager of its toolbars and portals division. One of the few top positions relating to Ask.com remaining unchanged will be that of Peter Horan, who will continue to oversee Ask Sponsored Listings. 52 year old Horan, who will remain as chief executive of IAC Media and Advertising, a position he has held since January 2007, also oversees IAC's Evite, Pronto and IAC Mobile properties. Further top level management changes are possible over upcoming weeks, according to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, citing a person familiar with IAC plans. IAC Names Safka New CEO at Ask.com Amidst Management Shakeup Despite gaining new users from a push into mobile device applications and an aggressive marketing campaign over the past year, Ask.com still lags well behind the top three search engine companies Google, Yahoo and Microsoft in its total share of the search market, according to figures from Web traffic analysis companies comScore and Hitwise. During November 2007 Ask.com held a 4.6 percent share of the search market, down from 5 percent a year earlier, according to comScore, which reported Google holding a 58.6 percent share, Yahoo a 22.4 percent share, and Microsoft a 9.8 percent share. Hitwise figures show Ask.com gaining slightly over the past year, with a search share of 4.1 percent, up from 3.7 percent. November also saw Ask.com penning a deal with Google, reported to be worth up to $3.5 billion, that will see it displaying sponsored search listings for the search leader, a plan that "gives us the ability to market Ask as it has not been marketed before," according to Diller. Whether management moves such as those announced Wednesday can help Ask.com attract new users to its search engine remains to be seen. In Thursday morning trading IAC shares were down 26 cents to $24.06. Related Links:
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10:43 pm on Jan. 10, 2008 (utc 0)