Time Warner will pay $300M to end SEC probe
Time Warner can finally turn the page on one of the more embarrassing chapters of the dot.com boom. More than two years ago the company came under scrutiny by the Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly inflating America Online’s online ad revenue and number of internet subscribers. Now the company has finally settled the situation. The cost? A mere $300 million. Under the agreement the SEC will ask that the $300 million be distributed to investors that were harmed by the company’s deception, and Time Warner must restate its earnings for the periods in question. That means it will hack off some $500 million in reported internet ad revenue from fourth quarter 2000 through 2002 in addition to the $190 million the company already restated. The move reopens the acquisition door for Time Warner, and the company will reportedly look to walk through it with Comcast in an attempt to buy the assets of Adelphia Communications. Time Warner’s stock is about 75 percent lower than it was in 2000, when it agreed to be acquired by AOL. In typical SEC fashion, Time Warner admitted or denied nothing with the settlement.

New search player: InterActive buys Ask Jeeves 
Ask Jeeves isn’t the first search engine most people think of when seeking information on the web. But its new owners are hoping to change that. Barry Diller's InterActive Corp. has purchased Ask Jeeves for $1.85 billion. With the new acquisition, IAC hopes to become a major player in the web search market. Although Ask Jeeves has about 42 million monthly users in the United States, it ranks No. 6 in Nielsen//NetRatings’ list of the top 10 internet search providers. Google, Yahoo, and MSN are the top-ranked sites. Ask Jeeves generates a great deal of online advertising, and IAC hopes the search engine will continue to bring in more. TNS Media Intelligence forecasts that internet advertising will grow 11.2 percent in 2005.

New for Miss USA, viewers help pick the winner
This year’s panel of judges for the Miss USA pageant will include Olympic swimming champ Michael Phelps, champion boxer and “Contender” co-host Sugar Ray Leonard, and any internet user who wants to participate. In a new gimmick this year, internet users can log onto CoverGirl.com and browse photos and interviews with this year’s 51 contestants, choose their top 10 favorites in the evening gown, swimsuit and interview categories, and cast votes from April 1-6. The results of online votes will account for one vote on the preliminary judging panel. The 54th annual Miss USA pageant will air on NBC on April 11.

FEC ponders blog restrictions after '04 confusion
Blogging played a prominent role in the last election, by both informing voters and spurring the mainstream media onto hot stories. Now the Federal Election Commission is deciding whether it will impose restrictions on online campaign advertising and political blogs. Since blogs weren't yet the hot thing during the 2000 election, there was some confusion over how or whether to regulate them last year. The FEC, which enforces federal election law, still has yet to determine which people and what activities will be regulated. One issue in question is whether bloggers who work for political campaigns be required to disclose that relationship. If the regulations go into effect, online participants will have to be conscious of a new set of legal boundaries. The FEC can't impose any restrictions that would hinder free speech.