Like most overly diversified media conglomerates, Barry Diller's IAC
Fourth-quarter profits before an intangible asset impairment charge fell by 29%, to $0.46 a share. Revenue inched 8% higher, to nearly $1.9 billion. (Catch up on IAC's third-quarter earnings.)
With Diller's plan to split IAC's empire into five pieces still intact, the company is breaking down its performance into what the five businesses would look like on their own:
Rev. Growth |
Pre-Amortization |
|
---|---|---|
New IAC |
21% |
(19%) |
HSN |
3% |
(7%) |
Ticketmaster |
27% |
8% |
LendingTree |
(55%) |
NM |
Interval |
35% |
12% |
Don't get disenchanted over the operating-profit slips. New IAC's operating slide is partly because of spinoff-related corporate overhead costs that get lumped into the category. The dip at HSN is mostly the result of a slowdown with its catalog business, since the Home Shopping Network itself is doing just fine.
Fools also shouldn't get too excited about the healthy top-line gains at every division but LendingTree. Interval's revenue would have grown by just 9% during the period, if not for its acquisition of ResortQuest Hawaii.
Judging by the report, the varied results within IAC's different segments should make its divided-up parts far livelier than its current whole. Despite IAC's recent boardroom drama with Liberty Media
"New" IAC will be nimble, with fast-growing content magnets like Match.com, Citysearch, and the Ask.com search engine. Think Yahoo!
That leaves HSN, which could be the Scooby snack that appeases Liberty Media in a deal to relinquish Liberty's controlling stake in IAC.
IAC is a new-media company with old baggage -- and those bags need to be shipped off to five different destinations. Let's hope that none of those parcels get delayed.
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