IAC/InterActiveCorp to Split Up Into Five Pieces

Barry Diller: Tax-Free Transaction Will Clear Up Confusion

By Jon Hemingway -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/5/2007 12:19:00 PM

IAC/InterActiveCorp announced plans Monday morning to split up its business into five separate pieces.

The company said the business units will be spun off to IAC shareholders as five separately traded stocks in a tax-free transaction that is expected to be completed in the second or third quarter of 2008.

"We've been a complex enterprise almost from the very beginning 12 years ago, with hundreds of transactions over those years,” IAC chairman and CEO Barry Diller said in a statement. “And while we've created a lot of value, I've always believed our complexity and many mouthfuls of sentences to explain who we are and what our strategy is have hampered clarity and understanding with all our constituencies, particularly investors."

The five new stocks will include IAC, HSN, Ticketmaster, Interval International and LendingTree.

The company’s Media and Advertising and Emerging Business segments will be rolled up under the IAC name which will include more than 30 brands. Some of the properties under this roof will be Ask.com, IAC Advertising Solutions, Match.com and Evite.

HSN will include cable network HSN, as well as its HSN.com site and other retailing assets including Frontgate and Smith & Noble.

Ticketmaster will include all of its related operations, as well as investments in Frontline and iLike.

Interval International will include CondoDirect, ResortQuest Hawaii and VacationSource.com.

LendingTree will also include RealEstate.com, Domania, GetSmart, Home Loan Center and iNest.

“Each of these spun-off businesses is in fact a distinct business sector, and each will benefit from standing on its own, with its own capital structure, its own currency, which will enhance its ability to attract and retain superior talent and make acquisitions,” Diller said.