Giant IAC to split up
IAC/InterActiveCorp’s board of directors approved a plan to separate giant IAC into two publicly traded companies, an online travel agency and an electronic retailer.
Expedia will include the domestic and international operations of Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Hotwire and the group’s other travel sites.
IAC will include the operations associated with IAC’s ticketing business, including Ticketmaster, electronic retailing business such as the Home Shopping Network, and financial services and real estate, including LendingTree. It also will include services like Citysearch, Evite and Match.com.
IAC/InterActive now has about 40 separate businesses under its umbrella.
The company is expected to go public by the second quarter of 2005, said Chairman Barry Diller, who announced plans to split his time between the two companies.
IAC/Interactive has a market value of $18 billion. Last year, it produced more than $6 billion in revenues, with the travel business accounting for about 30% of that, according to the Associated Press.
“The company’s shares surged on the news,” the AP said.
Genia Turanova, a portfolio manager for Leeb Capital Management, told the Seattle Post Intelligencer: “This is going to be good for visibility, good for valuation, and should be much easier to run.”
“Separating the company into two businesses will allow IAC to do what it does best, and Expedia to pursue its pure mission as a travel company,” Mr Diller said.
Mr Diller is generally given credit for building an unrivaled internet-based e-commerce conglomerate.
In one year, 2003, he completed some 30 deals that included the acquisition of companies that included Expedia, Hotwire.com, and GetSmart.
Report by David Wilkening
David
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