Fifteen years is a lifetime in website years, and during that time Doug Leeds, CEO of Ask.com, has seen it all.
The company has gone from private to public, and changed format from a general search engine to a question-and-answer site. Remember—Ask” was a verb before “Google” was a verb, and gets 4 to 5 times as many question and answer searches as Google, according to Leeds.
As one of the oldest kids on the block, he’s not worried about all of this “bubble” speculation.
“Right now is another great time for the internet,” he told me on my show during his first CNBC appearance. “LinkedIn, and Groupon…they're really a child of the mobile revolution.”
“I don't think there's necessarily a bubble until we start seeing companies with out-of-business models,” he went on. “These are strong companies that are going public in really emerging areas. If we see companies that really don't have the same financials that these companies do, the same business models, then we can start saying ‘bubble.’ Right now it's just a time of excitement for new models, and new brands.
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