Jeeves' pink slip came from Barry Diller, IAC/InterActive chairman and CEO, who announced the change last week.
IAC/InterActiveCorp completed its purchase of Ask Jeeves in July. "By the way, Jeeves will disappear, and we will be called Ask or Ask.com," Diller says. "Not that I don't like that butler."
Jeeves, based on a character created by British humourist PG Wodehouse, was slimmed down and given a tan last year. The use of the Jeeves character as the prominent symbol of the brand blinds people to recent changes and improvements in the search engine, the company says in a statement.