IAC: Shareholder Value or Money Pit?
IAC reported its first quarter earnings on Wednesday and it's the usual mix of mental hurdles, GAAP reconciliations and imagining what it could be. The big question: Is IAC really worth your time? IAC, an Internet conglomerate that's Barry Diller's baby, is planning to break itself up into five chunksâ€"a new IAC that will include Ask.com and other Internet properties, a retailing unit (HSN), LendingTree (real estates and loans), Interval (condos and vacations) and Ticketmaster. The conglomerate's results (Techmeme): Net income of $52.8 million, or 18 cents a share, on revenue of $1.6 billion. Sales were up 8 percent from a year ago and earnings were down 8 percent from a year ago.