Mary Hodder is reporting that Ask Jeeves has bought Bloglines. I'm inclined to believe there's something going on, but the reporting of the event strikes me as odd all the way around.
First off, in regards to her sources, we only get "I learned it from a couple of folks.". Journalists can be accused of a lot of failings, but an ethic of documented sourcing and verification is a good property. "Even if your mother tells you, check it out". Also, there have been no independent verifications, which typically happens with professional news sources on "big" stories, and no denials from either Ask Jeeves or Bloglines. Finally, notice the nuanced language from John Battelle one of the best at this stuff: "claim", "much more to say on this later".
Besides, if true, given who I wanted to purchase Bloglines, I'm highly disappointed AskJeeves might close the deal. I've just never had a high opinion of their search and I'm suspicious of Bloglines becoming overrun by ads. I'm not even sure it makes AskJeeves that much more palatable. Who wants to buy a premier aggregator company with a second tier search engine attached?
From the given evidence, I'd say there was some kind of financial agreement made, but maybe not a complete purchase.