Ask Jeeves May Sell $400 Million of Shares

Ask Jeeves Inc., owner of the Internet search site Ask.com, filed a shelf registration to sell as much as $400 million of its shares, capitalizing on its soaring stock price in the last year.

The Emeryville, Calif.-based firm, in Securities and Exchange Commission filing, didn’t say when it might sell the stock or what the terms would be.

Ask Jeeves is selling shares when its stock and that of other Internet companies such as Yahoo Inc. have risen after the collapse of the Internet “bubble” of the late 1990s. The shares of Ask Jeeves have more than tripled in the last year.

The shares of Yahoo, which owns the second-most-used search site, have more than doubled.

Ask Jeeves has no specific targets in mind and may not sell any new shares, spokeswoman Colby Zintl said.

Ask Jeeves shares fell $2.05 to $40.62 on Nasdaq.