InterActiveCorp (IAC) has announced that it will invest $100 million to expand its presence in the Chinese Internet market.

Company CEO Barry Diller told the media on Friday 23 November, that IAC plans to launch its Ask.com search engine in China within two years as part of its strategy for the world''''s most populated nation.

Diller said that the key to success in China was developing Internet offerings tailored to local tastes rather than simply exporting products that have worked in the US. American companies have struggled to make inroads into the Chinese market. Yahoo and eBay had to turn to local partners to run their China operations. The world''''s mightiest search engine Google trails local search leader Baidu by a huge margin.

Moving aggressively into China - the world''''s second-largest market in terms of Internet users - is crucial for IAC, which earlier this month announced a new growth strategy. The firm is splitting itself into five companies, with its 30 remaining Internet brands under the IAC banner.