Barry Diller, chairman and CEO of IAC/InterActiveCorp, is pressing ahead with plans to spin off the group's online travel business in May or early June and said his $1.85bn acquisition of Ask Jeeves, a search company, would not derail the process.

Ask Jeeves will be brought under the IAC umbrella of non-travel internet businesses, which include Ticketmaster, an entertainment bookings group; HSN, a home shopping network; Match.com, a dating service; and LendingTree, a financial service provider.