InterActiveCorp

InterActiveCorp (IAC) is a holding company, that owns brands across 100 countries, mostly in media and Internet. The company is headquartered in New York City with Joey Levin, who previously led the company’s search & applications segment, serving as Chief Executive Officer since June 2015.

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. In August 1995, Barry Diller acquired control of Silver King, in a deal backed by the company’s largest shareholder, Liberty Media.

The company acquired several assets in the late 1990s. HSN purchased a controlling stake in Ticketmaster Group in July 1997, and then acquired the rest of the company in June 1998. 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. 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). USA then sold Ticketmaster proper to TMCS in 2001, retaining a 61 percent share in the combined company, which became known as simply Ticketmaster. USA brought Ticketmaster back under full ownership in 2003, purchasing all outstanding shares.

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). The next year, Vivendi bought the rest of USA’s broadcast entertainment businesses, including the USA Network and Sci-Fi Channel. This led to the creation of a new company named Vivendi Universal Entertainment, led by Diller. In July 2001, the company entered the online travel business with its acquisition of Expedia, followed the next year by an acquisition of Interval International.

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

In 2004 and 2005, IAC continued its growth through acquisition, adding assets including TripAdvisor, ServiceMagic, and Ask Jeeves. It also launched Gifts.com during this period. In August 2005, the company bundled together its travel-related sites and spun them off as a new public company, Expedia, Inc. Additional acquisitions in 2006 included Shoebuy.com, which the company later sold to Jet, and connected ventures including CollegeHumor and Vimeo.

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

In 2009, IAC acquired Urbanspoon and People Media, and launched the production company Notional. IAC would later sell Urbanspoon to Zomato in 2015.

IAC’s largest shareholder, Liberty Media, exited the company in 2010; Diller stepped down as CEO, though he remained as chairman and Match.com CEO Greg Blatt was appointed to succeed him. That same year, IAC acquired dating site Singlesnet and fitness site DailyBurn.

In January 2013, IAC acquired online tutoring firm Tutor.com. On August 3, 2013, IAC sold Newsweek to the International Business Times.

In January 2016, IAC categorized its businesses into distinct segments for the purposes of financial reporting. Those segments are labelled by the company as Match Group, Publishing, Applications, Video, and ANGI Homeservices Inc.

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Last updated byAnonymous on March 10, 2020
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