Ask.com announced today that it will cut approximately 40 jobs across several of its departments as it shifts its focus towards a new strategy aimed at its core user base.
Through research, Ask.com discovered that a sizable group of its core users are women who come to the site to search in categories like reference as well as health and entertainment, according to an Ask.com spokesman. The search company will be looking for ways to be unique and relevant to this core audience, because that is where growth is anticipated, he said. Through these strategic efforts, the company said it hopes that these users will visit the site more often.
Although the majority of this core user group consists of female users, Ask.com is not going to become a women’s site, the spokesman added.
Ask.com, which is owned by IAC and based in Oakland, CA, is still hiring and will be looking for new talent in order to implement its new strategy, the spokesman said. He confirmed that the 40 positions consist of approximately 8% of the company’s work force.
