IAC Inc.

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IAC Inc. is an American holding company that owns brands across 100 countries, mostly in media and Internet.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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 division of Comcast.

The company is incorporated under the Delaware General Corporation Law<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> but is headquartered in New York City.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Joey Levin, who previously led the company's search and applications segment,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> has served as chief executive officer since June 2015.<ref name="iac.com">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

HistoryEdit

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1980s and 1990sEdit

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.<ref name=10k97>Template:Cite report</ref><ref name="greiff">Template:Cite news</ref> By 1988, Silver King had bought 11 stations for about $220 million.<ref name=greiff /> The company was later renamed as HSN Communications, Inc., and then Silver King Communications, Inc.<ref name=10k97 /> In 1992, Silver King was spun off to HSN shareholders as a separately traded public company with the Nasdaq stock ticker SKCI.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In August 1995, Barry Diller acquired control of Silver King, in a deal backed by the company's largest shareholder, Liberty Media.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="fabrikant">Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref name=fabrikant />

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite report</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

HSN purchased a controlling stake in Ticketmaster Group in July 1997,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and then acquired the rest of the company in June 1998.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite report</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="hsnadds">Template:Cite news</ref> The company's name was changed to USA Networks, Inc. at this point.<ref name="hsnadds" /> Continuing its acquisition strategy, the company acquired the Hotel Reservations Network in May 1999 for $149 million.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite report</ref>

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).<ref>Template:Cite report</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> USA then sold Ticketmaster proper to TMCS in 2001, retaining a 61 percent share in the combined company, which became known as simply Ticketmaster.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite press release</ref> USA brought Ticketmaster back under full ownership in 2003, purchasing all outstanding shares.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>

2000sEdit

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).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The next year, Vivendi bought the rest of USA's broadcast entertainment businesses, including the USA Network and Sci-Fi Channel.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> This led to the creation of a new company named Vivendi Universal Entertainment, led by Diller.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> followed the next year by an acquisition of Interval International.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Following the shift in focus to online assets, the company changed its name to USA Interactive (USAI)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} The page repeatedly refers to "USAI", e.g. "USAI acquires Precision Response Corporation (announced 1/00)".</ref> in May 2002;<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref> InterActiveCorp in June 2003;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and finally to IAC/InterActiveCorp in July 2004.<ref>Template:Cite report</ref>

In August 2003, IAC acquired the online mortgage comparison site LendingTree,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and in September, the company added discount travel website Hotwire.com to its growing list of acquisitions.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In October, IAC agreed to buy French travel site Anyway.com from Transat A.T. for $62.7 million.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2004 and 2005, IAC continued its growth through acquisition, adding assets including Tripadvisor,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> ServiceMagic,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Ask Jeeves.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It also launched Gifts.com during this period.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In August 2005, the company bundled together its travel-related sites and spun them off as a new public company, Expedia, Inc.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Additional acquisitions in 2006 included ShoeBuy.com,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> which the company later sold to Jet,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and Connected Ventures including CollegeHumor and Vimeo.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

In May 2008, IAC and Ask.com acquired Lexico, the owner of Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com, and Reference.com.<ref>"IAC to Buy Lexico to Boost Its Ask.com" Template:Webarchive. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved February 11, 2015.</ref> In August 2008, IAC spun off several of its businesses, including: Tree.com (formerly LendingTree), the Home Shopping Network, Ticketmaster, and Interval International.<ref>"IAC: And Then There Were Five" Template:Webarchive. Forbes. Retrieved June 13, 2010.</ref>

In 2009, IAC acquired Urbanspoon<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and People Media,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and launched the production company Notional.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> IAC would later sell Urbanspoon to Zomato in 2015.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

2010sEdit

IAC's largest shareholder, Liberty Media, exited the company in 2010, following a protracted dispute over the 2008 spinoffs.<ref name="serwer">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Liberty traded its IAC stock for $220 million in cash, plus ownership of Evite and Gifts.com.<ref name=serwer /> On the same day, Diller stepped down as CEO but remained chairman, and Match.com CEO Greg Blatt was appointed to succeed him.<ref name=serwer /> That same year, IAC acquired dating site Singlesnet<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref> and fitness site DailyBurn.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In January 2013, IAC acquired online tutoring firm Tutor.com.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On August 3, 2013, IAC sold Newsweek to the International Business Times on undisclosed terms.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On December 22, 2013, IAC fired their director of corporate communications, Justine Sacco, after an AIDS joke she posted to Twitter went viral,<ref name="NYTM02122015">Template:Cite news</ref> being re-tweeted and scorned around the world.<ref>O'Connell, Mark, "First Thought, Worst Thought" Template:Webarchive, New Yorker, January 13, 2014</ref> The incident became a byword for the need for people to be cautious about what they post on social media.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2014, IAC acquired ASKfm for an undisclosed sum.<ref name="AskfmIAC">Template:Cite news</ref>

In November 2015, IAC and Match Group announced the closing of Match Group's previously announced initial public offering.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref name="ANGI Homeservices to Buy Handy to Dominate Home Renovations">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In January 2019, IAC sold Citysearch parent CityGrid to eLocal.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

2020sEdit

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In February, IAC completed its $500 million acquisition of Care.com.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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", both on Nasdaq.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In August 2020, IAC announced<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and the acquired Meredith (and the former Time Inc.) assets merged with IAC subsidiary Dotdash, forming a new entity called Dotdash Meredith.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> with IAC remaining a minority shareholder in Bluecrew's business.

BusinessesEdit

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.<ref name="angieslist-buy">Template:Cite news</ref> In March 2021, the company changed its name to Angi.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>

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Angi
CraftJack
Fixd Repair
Handy
HomeAdvisor<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

HomeStars (Canada)
ImproveNet
Instapro (Italy)
mHelpDesk
MyBuilder (United Kingdom)
MyHammer (Germany, Austria)
Travaux.com (France)
Werkspot (Netherlands)

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Dotdash MeredithEdit

Dotdash Meredith, at the time known as About.com, was acquired by IAC in 2012. A few years later they renamed it Dotdash. In 2021, Meredith Corporation and Time Inc. merged into Dotdash, and it took its current name. Time had previously merged with Warner Communications to form Time Warner in 1990. The company spun off Time in 2014, but kept the Time Warner name until it was renamed WarnerMedia after being acquired by AT&T in 2018.Template:Div col