IAC Inc.

IAC Inc.
Formerly
  • HSN Inc. (1996–1998)
  • USA Networks Inc. (1998–2002)
  • USA Interactive (2002–2003)
  • InterActiveCorp (2003–2004)
Company typePublic
ISINUS44891N1090 Edit this on Wikidata
IndustryMedia
PredecessorsSilver King Communications
FoundedAugust 24, 1995; 29 years ago (1995-08-24)
HeadquartersIAC Building,
New York City, New York
,
United States
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Products
RevenueDecrease US$4.37 billion (2023)
Negative increase −US$261 million (2023)
Negative increase −US$266 million (2023)
Total assetsDecrease US$10.4 billion (2023)
Total equityIncrease US$6.75 billion (2023)
Number of employees
c. 9,500 (2023)
Websitewww.iac.com Edit this at Wikidata
Footnotes / references
[1]

IAC Inc. is an American holding company that owns brands across 100 countries, mostly in media and Internet.[2] The company originated in 1996 as HSN Inc. as the holding company of Home Shopping Network and USA Network before changing its name to USA Networks, Inc. in 1999 and its television assets were sold to Vivendi in 2002. Those are now owned today by NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast.

The company is incorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law[3] and headquartered in New York City.[4] Joey Levin, who previously led the company's search and applications segment,[5] has served as chief executive officer since June 2015.[6]

History

[edit]

1980s and 1990s

[edit]

IAC was established in 1986 as Silver King Broadcasting Company, as part of a plan to increase viewership of the Home Shopping Network (HSN) by purchasing local television stations.[7][8] By 1988, Silver King had bought 11 stations for about $220 million.[8] The company was later renamed as HSN Communications, Inc., and then Silver King Communications, Inc.[7] In 1992, Silver King was spun off to HSN shareholders as a separately traded public company.[9] In August 1995, Barry Diller acquired control of Silver King, in a deal backed by the company's largest shareholder, Liberty Media.[10][11] Diller, who had led the creation of the Fox network, reportedly hoped to use Silver King's stations as the foundation for a new broadcast network.[11]

The company acquired several assets in the late 1990s. In December 1996, Silver King acquired an 80% stake in HSN for $1.3 billion in stock, and changed its own name to HSN, Inc.[12][13][14] At the same time, the company acquired Savoy Pictures, a failed film studio that owned four Fox affiliate stations through SF Broadcasting, for $210 million in stock.[15]

HSN purchased a controlling stake in Ticketmaster Group in July 1997,[16] and then acquired the rest of the company in June 1998.[17][18] In February 1998, it acquired the television assets of Universal Studios (including USA Network, Sci-Fi Channel, and Universal Television's domestic production and distribution arms) for $4.1 billion.[19][20] The company's name was changed to USA Networks, Inc. at this point.[20] Continuing its acquisition strategy, the company acquired the Hotel Reservations Network in May 1999 for $149 million.[21][22]

USA Networks merged the online division of Ticketmaster with city guide website Citysearch in September 1998, establishing a new company that went public as Ticketmaster Online–CitySearch (TMCS).[23][24] USA then sold Ticketmaster proper to TMCS in 2001, retaining a 61 percent share in the combined company, which became known as simply Ticketmaster.[25][26] USA brought Ticketmaster back under full ownership in 2003, purchasing all outstanding shares.[27]

2000s

[edit]

In the early 2000s, USA Networks began divesting itself of its traditional television broadcasting and production units. In May 2001, Univision Communications acquired USA Broadcasting (a division of USA Networks including 13 local stations).[28] The next year, Vivendi bought the rest of USA's broadcast entertainment businesses, including the USA Network and Sci-Fi Channel.[29] This led to the creation of a new company named Vivendi Universal Entertainment, led by Diller.[30] Throughout this transition, USA Networks continued to build up its online portfolio. In July 2001, the company entered the online travel business with its acquisition of Expedia,[31] followed the next year by an acquisition of Interval International.[32]

Following the shift in focus to online assets, the company changed its name to USA Interactive (USAI)[33] in May 2002;[34] InterActiveCorp in June 2003;[35] and finally to IAC/InterActiveCorp in July 2004.[36]

In August 2003, IAC acquired the online mortgage comparison site LendingTree,[37] and in September, the company added discount travel website Hotwire.com to its growing list of acquisitions.[38] In October, IAC agreed to buy French travel site Anyway.com from Transat A.T. for $62.7 million.[39]

In 2004 and 2005, IAC continued its growth through acquisition, adding assets including Tripadvisor,[40] ServiceMagic,[41] and Ask Jeeves.[42] It also launched Gifts.com during this period.[43] In August 2005, the company bundled together its travel-related sites and spun them off as a new public company, Expedia, Inc.[44] Additional acquisitions in 2006 included ShoeBuy.com,[45] which the company later sold to Jet,[46] and Connected Ventures including CollegeHumor and Vimeo.[47]

In May 2008, IAC and Ask.com acquired Lexico, the owner of Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com, and Reference.com.[48] In August 2008, IAC spun off several of its businesses, including: Tree.com (formerly LendingTree), the Home Shopping Network, Ticketmaster, and Interval International.[49]

In 2009, IAC acquired Urbanspoon[50] and People Media,[51] and launched the production company Notional.[52] IAC would later sell Urbanspoon to Zomato in 2015.[53]

2010s

[edit]

IAC's largest shareholder, Liberty Media, exited the company in 2010, following a protracted dispute over the 2008 spinoffs.[54][55] Liberty traded its IAC stock for $220 million in cash, plus ownership of Evite and Gifts.com.[54] On the same day, Diller stepped down as CEO, though he remained as chairman and Match.com CEO Greg Blatt was appointed to succeed him.[54] That same year, IAC acquired dating site Singlesnet[56] and fitness site DailyBurn.[57]

In January 2013, IAC acquired online tutoring firm Tutor.com.[58] On August 3, 2013, IAC sold Newsweek to the International Business Times on undisclosed terms.[59] On December 22, 2013, IAC fired their director of corporate communications, Justine Sacco, after an AIDS joke she posted to Twitter went viral,[60] being re-tweeted and scorned around the world.[61] The incident became a byword for the need for people to be cautious about what they post on social media.[62]

In 2014, IAC acquired ASKfm for an undisclosed sum.[63]

In November 2015, IAC and Match Group announced the closing of Match Group's previously announced initial public offering.[64]

In May 2017, HomeAdvisor combined with Angie's List, forming the new publicly traded company ANGI Homeservices Inc. The company made its stock market debut in October 2017. In October 2018, ANGI made its first acquisition of on-demand platform Handy.[65]

In January 2019, IAC sold Citysearch parent CityGrid to eLocal.[66] In July 2019, IAC made its largest investment ever in the world's largest peer-to-peer car sharing marketplace, Turo. Later that year, IAC acquired Care.com.[67] In December 2019, IAC and Match Group entered into an agreement providing for the full separation of Match Group from the remaining businesses of IAC.[68]

2020s

[edit]

In January 2020, IAC withdrew its financial backing for CollegeHumor and its sister websites and sold the websites to Chief Creative Officer Sam Reich; IAC remains a minority owner of Reich's rebranded company Dropout. As a result of the restructuring, more than 100 employees of CollegeHumor were laid off.[69] In February, IAC completed its $500 million acquisition of Care.com.[70]

In July 2020, IAC and Match Group announced the successful completion of the separation of Match Group from the remaining businesses of IAC. As a result of the separation, Match Group's dual class voting structure was eliminated and the interest in Match Group formerly held by IAC is now held directly by IAC's shareholders. As of the separation, "new" IAC trades under the symbol "IAC" and "new" Match Group under the symbol "MTCH."[71]

In August 2020, IAC announced[72] it had invested a 12% stake in MGM Resorts International.

In May 2021, IAC completed the spin-off of Vimeo, the 11th company to be spun-off from IAC.[73] Vimeo trades on Nasdaq under the symbol "VMEO".

In October 2021, IAC announced the acquisition of Meredith Corporation's National Media Group for $2.7 billion. The deal closed December 1, 2021,[74] and the acquired Meredith (and the former Time Inc.) assets merged with IAC subsidiary Dotdash, forming a new entity called Dotdash Meredith.[75]

In August 2022, IAC officially changed its legal entity (IAC/InterActiveCorp) to reflect what it is actually called: IAC Inc. In October, IAC agreed to sell its workforce-as-a-service platform Bluecrew to EmployBridge[76] with IAC remaining a minority shareholder in Bluecrew's business.

Businesses

[edit]

IAC's businesses are categorized into distinct segments for the purposes of financial reporting. Those segments are labelled by the company as Angi Inc., Dotdash Meredith, Search, and Emerging and Other. Each business listed may have multiple brands connected to it.

Angi Inc.

[edit]

On May 1, 2017, IAC announced it had entered into a definitive agreement with Angie's List to combine HomeAdvisor, a digital marketplace for maintenance and repair services, and Angie's List into a new publicly traded company named ANGI Homeservices Inc.[77] In March 2021, the company changed its name to Angi.[78]

  • Angi
  • CraftJack
  • Fixd Repair
  • Handy
  • HomeAdvisor[79]
  • HomeStars (Canada)
  • ImproveNet
  • Instapro (Italy)
  • mHelpDesk
  • MyBuilder (United Kingdom)
  • MyHammer (Germany, Austria)
  • Travaux.com (France)
  • Werkspot (Netherlands)

Dotdash Meredith

[edit]
[edit]

Other

[edit]

Corporate affairs

[edit]

Board of directors

[edit]

IAC's board of directors consists of the following members:[6]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "IAC: Form 10-K". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. February 29, 2024.
  2. ^ Cohen, Aaron (January 7, 2020). "How the remnants of About.com are stealthily taking over the internet". Fast Company. Retrieved January 16, 2020.
  3. ^ "Annual Report Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(D) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934". SEC.gov. February 27, 2020. Archived from the original on February 21, 2023. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  4. ^ "Around the World". IAC. Archived from the original on December 14, 2012. Retrieved January 28, 2014.
  5. ^ "Joey Levin". IAC. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  6. ^ a b "Our Leaders". IAC. Archived from the original on November 20, 2016. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
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  23. ^ Form S-1: Registration Statement (Report). Ticketmaster Online–CitySearch. September 30, 1998. p. 5. Archived from the original on February 26, 2017. Retrieved August 27, 2017 – via EDGAR.
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  32. ^ "USA Interactive to Acquire Interval International From Willis Stein & Partners and Other Investors". Hospitality Net. May 30, 2002. Archived from the original on May 20, 2015. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
  33. ^ "History". IAC. Archived from the original on December 16, 2016. Retrieved December 5, 2016. The page repeatedly refers to "USAI", e.g. "USAI acquires Precision Response Corporation (announced 1/00)".
  34. ^ "USA Networks, Inc. completes transaction with Vivendi Universal; company renamed USA Interactive" (Press release). USA Interactive. May 7, 2002. Archived from the original on March 11, 2017. Retrieved August 27, 2017 – via EDGAR.
  35. ^ "LendingTree suitor changing name". Biz Journals. June 19, 2003. Archived from the original on November 18, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2015.
  36. ^ Form 8-K: Current report (Report). IAC/InteractiveCorp. July 14, 2004. Archived from the original on August 27, 2017. Retrieved August 27, 2017 – via EDGAR.
  37. ^ Hansell, Saul (May 6, 2003). "USA Interactive Is Acquiring LendingTree In Stock Deal". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 14, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2015.
  38. ^ "InteractiveCorp to buy Hotwire". USA Today. September 22, 2003. Archived from the original on November 13, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2015.
  39. ^ "Transat announces sale of Anyway.com to IAC/InterActiveCorp, owner of Expedia - Expedia, Inc. to extend presence in France through Anyway addition to IAC Travel portfolio". PR Newswire. October 27, 2003. Archived from the original on October 24, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2015 – via The Free Library.
  40. ^ Hansell, Saul (March 17, 2004). "Deals: InterActive Corp to Acquire TripAdvisor". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 14, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2015.
  41. ^ "IAC/InterActive Corp Acquires ServiceMagic". ACHR News. August 11, 2004. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved January 15, 2015.
  42. ^ Fabrikant, Geraldine (March 21, 2005). "AskJeeves Inc to Be Bought for $2 Billion". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved January 15, 2015.
  43. ^ Vara, Vauhini (March 21, 2005). "IAC Launches Gift-Giving Web Site". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved January 15, 2015.
  44. ^ Hansell, Saul (August 8, 2005). "Spinoff of Expedia Comes at Tough Time for Its Sector". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 14, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2015.
  45. ^ "IAC/Interactive acquires online retailer ShoeBuy.com". Biz Journals. January 31, 2006. Archived from the original on November 13, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2015.
  46. ^ Levy, Nat (January 6, 2017). "Walmart buys Zappos competitor ShoeBuy for $70M to help Jet.com battle Amazon in online apparel". GeekWire. Archived from the original on January 10, 2017. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
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  56. ^ Rao, Leena (February 25, 2010). "Confirmed: Match.com Acquires Singlesnet". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on February 14, 2015. Retrieved February 5, 2015.
  57. ^ "IAC Buys Into Fitness Social Network DailyBurn". TechCrunch. May 20, 2010. Archived from the original on February 5, 2015. Retrieved February 5, 2015.
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  60. ^ Ronson, Jon (February 12, 2015). "How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco's Life". The New York Times Magazine. Archived from the original on February 12, 2015. Retrieved February 13, 2015. Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white!
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  65. ^ Carville, Olivia (October 11, 2018). "ANGI Homeservices to Buy Handy to Dominate Home Renovations". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on September 2, 2020. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  66. ^ Sullivan, Laurie (January 4, 2019). "eLocal Acquires Felix And CityGrid From IAC To Build On Performance". MediaPost. Archived from the original on January 28, 2023.
  67. ^ Cosgrove, Elly (December 20, 2019). "Care.com shares surge after Barry Diller's IAC agrees to buy online caregiver marketplace". CNBC. Archived from the original on December 20, 2019. Retrieved December 20, 2019.
  68. ^ Kellaher, Colin; Prang, Allison (December 19, 2019). "IAC/InterActive, Match Group Agree to Full Separation". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on December 19, 2019. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  69. ^ Sapra, Bani (January 8, 2020). "CollegeHumor's parent company pulled its funding, laying off more than 100 employees and leaving a longtime executive to run the company on his own". Business Insider. Archived from the original on January 9, 2020. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
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  71. ^ "IAC and Match Group Complete Full Separation". PRNewswire. July 1, 2020. Archived from the original on July 2, 2020. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  72. ^ "IAC Invests in MGM Resorts International". PRNewswire. August 10, 2020. Archived from the original on September 10, 2020. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  73. ^ "IAC Completes Spin-off Of Vimeo". PRNewswire. May 25, 2021. Archived from the original on May 25, 2021. Retrieved May 25, 2021.
  74. ^ "IAC's Dotdash Announces Close of Meredith Transaction". PR Newswire. December 1, 2021. Archived from the original on September 15, 2022.
  75. ^ Trachtenberg, Jeffrey A.; Armental, Maria (October 6, 2021). "Magazine Publisher Meredith Agrees to Be Sold to Barry Diller's IAC". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on October 7, 2021. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
  76. ^ Leach, Kamaron (October 4, 2022). "Apollo-Backed EmployBridge to Acquire Bluecrew From IAC". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on February 21, 2023. Retrieved October 4, 2022.
  77. ^ Jamerson, Joshua (May 1, 2017). "IAC Plans to Buy Angie's List". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on May 3, 2017. Retrieved May 3, 2017.
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  80. ^ "Ask Media Group – Ask Media Group".
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