IAC - end of the road Tuesday, November 06, 2007
I was talking to someone the other day and pointed out that it was trading at much lower multiple than other internet firms. Well IAC were obviously looking at the same table and realising they needed to expose the more valuable parts of the business and get access to those multiples.
Today they announced they are breaking the business up into 5 separate listed businesses.
IAC will include: Ask.com, Bloglines, Citysearch, CursorMania, IAC Advertising Solutions, Evite, Excite, InsiderPages, iWon, My Fun Cards, My Way, Popular Screensavers, Smiley Central, Webfetti, Zwinky, Match.com, ServiceMagic, Shoebuy.com, Entertainment Publications, ReserveAmerica, Black Web Enterprises, BustedTees, CollegeHumor, GarageGames, Gifts.com, Green.com, InstantAction, Primal Ventures, Pronto, Very Short List, Vimeo and 23/6, Active.com, Brightcove, FiLife, Medem, MerchantCircle, OpenTable, Points.com and SHOP Channel.
HSN: The Home Shopping Network, which includes HSN TV, hsn.com, and the Cornerstone Brands, Inc. portfolio of catalogs, web sites and retail locations.
Ticketmaster will include: Admission.com, Biletix, Billetnet, BillettService, Cottonblend, Echomusic, Kartenhaus.de, Lippupalvelu, LiveDaily, TicketService, Tick Tack Ticket, TicketWeb and Ticnet.se, as well as Ticketmaster’s current investments in Frontline and iLike.
Interval International will include: CondoDirect, Resort Quest Hawaii and VacationSource.com;
LendingTree will include: RealEstate.com, Domania, GetSmart, Home Loan Center and iNest.
Interesting that IAC didn't hold onto iLike. However, this might have been to given Ticketmaster some magic juice!
IAC didn't operate the group in a co-ordinated fashion - only the legal function had shared lines across the group as I understand it. So breaking it up in this fashion won't have an immediate imact on the business. However, down the line, they are all part of a smaller business and may be regarded differently in the outside world in places they don't expect e.g. banks.
posted by John Wilson @ 12:39 AM Permanent Link
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