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IAC appoints new Ask.com CEO

InterActiveCorp says Steve Berkowitz, heading for Microsoft, will be replaced by company veteran Jim Lanzone.

Candace Lombardi
In a software-driven world, it's easy to forget about the nuts and bolts. Whether it's cars, robots, personal gadgetry or industrial machines, Candace Lombardi examines the moving parts that keep our world rotating. A journalist who divides her time between the United States and the United Kingdom, Lombardi has written about technology for the sites of The New York Times, CNET, USA Today, MSN, ZDNet, Silicon.com, and GameSpot. She is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not a current employee of CNET.
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Candace Lombardi
Jim Lanzone Jim Lanzone

InterActiveCorp has announced that Jim Lanzone, Ask.com's general manager, will replace Steve Berkowitz as Ask's chief executive. Berkowitz announced on Friday that he would be leaving IAC to head up Microsoft's MSN and Windows Live expansion. Ask has 6 percent of the search market, trailing behind Google, Microsoft and Yahoo.

"Jim is one of the most respected leaders in the search industry, having been principally responsible every day for the turnaround of the Ask product and brand over the past several years," IAC President and COO Doug Lebda said in a statement. Lanzone joined Ask (formerly Ask Jeeves) in 2001 as vice president of product management. Previously, he served for five years at eTour, an early cost-per-lead and information retrieval Web service that Ask Jeeves bought in 2001.