IAC/InterActiveCorp

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IAC/InterActiveCorp
Type Public
Traded as NASDAQ: IACI
Industry Internet
Founded 1995
Headquarters IAC Building
New York City, U.S.
Area served Worldwide
Key people Barry Diller
(Chairman and Senior Executive)
Products Interactive Online
Revenue Increase $3.02 billion as of 2013
Operating income Increase $ 426.2 million as of 2013
Net income Increase $ 285.8 million as of 2013
Total assets Increase $ 4.23 billion as of 2013
Total equity Increase $ 1.73 billion as of 2013
Employees 4,000 as of January 2014
Website http://www.iac.com

IAC/InterActiveCorp (also known as IAC) is an American internet company with over 50 brands across 40 countries headquartered in New York City.[1] The Chairman and Senior Executive is Barry Diller,[2][3] who was previously head of Paramount Pictures, Fox Broadcasting, and USA Broadcasting.

History[edit]

IAC was incorporated in 1986 under the name Silver King Broadcasting Company, as a subsidiary of the Home Shopping Network. In 1992, Silver King was spun-off to Home Shopping Network shareholders as a separately traded public company.

New York headquarters

The company was originally named HSN, Inc. Its name was changed to USA Networks, Inc. in February 1998; to USA Interactive in May 2002; to InterActiveCorp in June 2003; and finally to IAC/InterActiveCorp in July 2004.

In October 2003, Transat A.T. Inc. entered into an agreement to sell its French subsidiary Anyway.com (www.anyway.com) to IAC/InterActiveCorp, for an enterprise value of €53 million (approximately CAD$81.6 million, $62.7 million USD).[4]

In August 2008, IAC spun off several of its businesses, including: Tree.com (NASDAQ: TREE), the Home Shopping Network, Ticketmaster, and Interval Leisure Group (NASDAQ: IILG).[5]

In February 2011, IAC acquired the free-to-contact dating site, OkCupid, for $50 million.[6]

In April 2011, IAC extended the deal with Google to hand over all search advertising on Ask.com and other IAC search products to the search giant, which was worth $3.5 billion in 2007, to end on March 31, 2016.[7]

On February 14, 2012, Barry Diller introduced Aereo, an Internet television service. In March 2012 in New York City, Aereo will stream all of the broadcast networks to smartphones, tablets and televisions with Internet capability.[8] On June 25, 2014, in a 6-3 Opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Aereo. The Court found that Aereo infringed upon the rights of copyright holders.[9]

On August 26, 2012, IAC acquired About.com (The About Group) from the New York Times.[10]

On August 3, 2013, IAC sold Newsweek to the International Business Times on undisclosed terms.[11]

In November 2013, IAC acquired Investopedia and PriceRunner from ValueClick.[12]

In August, 2014 IAC acquired Ask.fm for an undisclosed sum.[13]

Sacco incident[edit]

On December 22, 2013, IAC fired their Director of Corporate Communications, Justine Sacco. She became a source of controversy for a tweet linking Africa and AIDS to a racial association that was widely taken to be racist although she quickly asserted it to be a joke in the tweet.[14][15] An IAC spokesperson said the "outrageous, offensive comment" did not reflect the company's "views and values".[16][17][18] The tweet went 'viral', being re-tweeted and scorned around the world, and swiftly, she was fired for the tweet.[19] Following her dismissal, Sacco issued an unconditional apology through The Star, a South African newspaper.[20]

The incident has since become a byword both for the need for people, especially professionals, to be cautious about what they post on social media,[21] and for a justified action to immediately end a racist practice.[22]

Businesses[edit]

IAC owns a number of companies and websites, including:[23][24]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Notes

  1. ^ "Our Brand Locations". IAC. Retrieved 2014-01-28. 
  2. ^ "IAC/InterActiveCorp | Company profile from Hoover's". Hoovers.com. Retrieved 2010-09-11. 
  3. ^ "IAC/InterActiveCorp's Stock (IACI) on Yahoo! Finance". Finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2010-09-11. 
  4. ^ "Transat announces sale of Anyway.com to IAC/InterActiveCorp". 
  5. ^ "IAC: And Then There Were Five". Forbes. Retrieved June 13, 2010.
  6. ^ "IAC's Match.com buys rival OKCupid for $50M". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2 February 2011. 
  7. ^ Leena Rao, "IAC Asks For More Google, Please." Techcrunch, April 11, 2011. Retrieved April 11, 2011.
  8. ^ Stelter, Brian work=The New York Times (2012-02-14). "New Service Will Stream Local TV Stations in New York". Retrieved 2012-02-23. 
  9. ^ Breyer, J (June 2014). American Broadcasting Company, et al. v. Aereo Inc.. 
  10. ^ "Ask.com Parent To Buy About.com For About $300M". NPR. Retrieved August 27, 2012. 
  11. ^ "IBT Media to Buy Newsweek from IAC". The Wall Street Journal. August 3, 2013. Retrieved August 5, 2013. 
  12. ^ ValueClick, Inc. Signs Definitive Agreement to Sell Owned & Operated Websites Segment
  13. ^ "IAC to acquire Ask.fm, agrees to combat cyberbullying". Big News Network.com. 14 August 2014. Retrieved 14 August 2014. 
  14. ^ "Obeidallah, Dean, "Think before you tweet" CNN 22 December 2013". Edition.cnn.com. 2013-12-22. Retrieved 2014-01-28. 
  15. ^ "How to tweet about Africa: the lessons of Justine Sacco, race and sarcasm | Siri Srinivas". The Guardian. Retrieved 2014-01-28. 
  16. ^ "PR officer Justine Sacco's Aids comment causes twitter storm". British Broadcasting Corporation. December 21, 2013. Retrieved December 21, 2013. 
  17. ^ Flint, Joe (2013-12-21). "PR executive Justine Sacco fired after insensitive tweet goes global". latimes.com. Retrieved 2014-01-28. 
  18. ^ Flint, Joe (2013-12-21). "PR executive Justine Sacco fired after insensitive tweet goes global". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2014-01-28. 
  19. ^ O'Connell, Mark, "First Thought, Worst Thought", New Yorker, January 13, 2014
  20. ^ Withnall, Adam (22 December 2013). "PR executive Justine Sacco apologises after losing job over racist Aids ‘joke’ provoked #HasJustineLandedYet Twitter storm". London: The Independent. Retrieved 29 January 2014. 
  21. ^ Giacomazzo, Bernadette (2014-01-10). "“Top 10 Social Media Rules for Professionals (Hint: Don't Be Like Justine Sacco)” Latin Post, 10 January 2014". Latin Post. Retrieved 2014-01-28. 
  22. ^ Fleischer, Matthew (2014-01-10). "Fleischer, Matthew, "Give Chief Wahoo the Justine Sacco treatment: Fire the racist mascot", Los Angeles Times, 10 January 2014". Latimes.com. Retrieved 2014-01-28. 
  23. ^ "IAC > Our businesses". Retrieved 20 March 2010. 
  24. ^ Big News Today: Ask.com Acquires Ask.fm

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to IAC Building.
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