Just when you thought the era of dot-com overvaluation was long gone, Barry Diller and his IAC/InterActiveCorp demonstrate just how much loose change there is out there for a nothing-but-flash website. IAC agreed to acquire search engine Ask Jeeves for $1.8 billion in stock, in a bid to enter the search wars.

Almost $2 billion for an entrenched also-ran that, regardless of how much money/resource it gets, will never come close to challenging the Googles and Yahoo!s of the online world. Granted, it’s not a cash purchase, but it’s still a colossal waste. I understand the concept of buying into an established operation, and such purchase candidates are limited. But give me a break — I don’t care how many dinky licensing partnerships Ask Jeeves has, it doesn’t come close to such a high valuation, especially when IAC was likely bidding against itself.

I guess I shouldn’t complain. If this move sparks a rise in the online property market, I can soon command a cool million for this site.