Vimeo has raised $300 million in equity, raising its valuation to some $5.7 billion as it prepares to become independent.
IAC announced in December its plans to spin Vimeo off as an independent, publicly traded company. As a video hosting platform, and YouTube’s prime competitor, Vimeo has experienced significant growth. In fact, the company saw 57% year-over-year revenue growth in December.
As Vimeo prepares to go public, the new funding will provide the capital it needs to continue its growth and innovation.
“As the world embraces video like never before, Vimeo is in an incredibly strong position to help more businesses take advantage of this powerful medium,” said Anjali Sud, CEO, Vimeo. “We have built an industry-leading solution that the market needs, and we intend to move swiftly to bring our professional-quality tools to millions more users.”
“Vimeo is the quintessential IAC success story,” said Joey Levin, CEO, IAC. “With patience, discipline, and ambition, Vimeo has transformed from a tiny seed to a large global enterprise making its mark on the world, and Anjali Sud is an exceptional leader.”
IAC has announced it will spin Vimeo off as a fully independent, publicly traded company.
Vimeo is a video hosting platform that serves as a major competitor to YouTube, with some 200 million users. Like many streaming platforms, Vimeo has experienced major growth as a result of the pandemic.
IAC is now planning on capitalizing on that success, spinning off Vimeo as an independent company.
“The combination of Vimeo’s remarkable growth, solid leadership position, and enormous market opportunity have made clear its future,” said Joey Levin, CEO, IAC. “It’s time for Vimeo to spread its wings and become a great independent public company.”
“We have long believed in the power of video to advance human expression and transform businesses,” said Anjali Sud, CEO of Vimeo. “Today we have a rare opportunity to help every team and organization in the world integrate video throughout their operations, across all the ways they communicate and collaborate. Our all-in-one solution radically lowers the barriers of time, cost, and complexity that previously made professional-quality video unattainable. We’re ready for this next chapter and focused on making video far easier and more effective than ever before.”
IAC expects the spinoff to be completed in the second quarter of 2021.
Google and IAC are at odds over what Google calls misleading marketing practices, putting a lucrative deal at stake.
IAC/InterActive Corp. offers a number of extensions for Google’s popular Chrome web browser. IAC markets the extensions as useful tools to make users’ lives easier. These can include manuals for various tools, saving users from searching for them. Other extensions provide easy access to government forms, or daily Bible quotes.
According to the Wall Street Journal, however, some of IAC’s extensions do not perform as advertised. Even worse, the Chrome safety and trust team found that some extensions steer users toward more ads. According to documents the WSJ gained access to, the behavior was egregious enough the Chrome team recommended “immediate removal and deactivation” of the company’s extensions from the Chrome store.
IAC’s chairman, Barry Diller, has said doing so would be devastating to IAC’s business. That hasn’t stopped Google from removing a number of the extensions, although the company told Reuters it is still working with IAC and reviewing their remaining extensions.
Part of Google’s concern as it moves forward is the need to juggle appearances with the security of its users. The company is already under extensive scrutiny over antitrust and anticompetitive concerns. As a result, any action Google takes need to be above reproach and not add to the scrutiny it’s already under.
“You’ve got to bail everyone out,” says Expedia and IAC Chairman Barry Diller. “This is like when you’re picking losers and winners. Everybody is in the same position which is the world stopped for commerce. You see this when you drive down streets and you see big cities and small cities and you see nothing is open. They’re ghost towns. The damage that is being done every day is enormous. Everybody needs to be bailed out of this one-time thing and we’ll worry about paying the bills later.”
Barry Diller, media mogul and Chairman of IAC and Expedia, says that every business in the United States must be bailed out in an interview on CNBC:
You’ve Got To Bail Everyone Out
What we’re doing at Expedia is using the time to do a lot of the things that we were not able to do when we were running a hundred miles an hour to keep up with our growth. You can think of it as a small business writ large. And then one day the door closes. And if you’ve got a small business with nobody coming in you have no revenue. Well, travel-related companies have no revenue. Expedia, like many large travel companies, has a very very large cost base so we haven’t yet dealt with that specifically. The real planning inside the company is to come out of this stronger than when we went into it.
The bailouts of the airlines are necessary. Full stop. You’ve got to bail everyone out. This is like when you’re picking losers and winners. Everybody is in the same position which is the world stopped for commerce. You see this when you drive down streets and you see big cities and small cities and you see nothing is open. They’re ghost towns. The damage that is being done every day is enormous. Everybody needs to be bailed out of this one-time thing and we’ll worry about paying the bills later.
What has to happen is the fear has to decline
What has to happen is the fear has to decline. The fear of associating with other people. There are plenty of friends of mine who say I’m not going to go to the theater or I’m not going to do this because I’m afraid. Actually, now people are saying, even though you’ve been isolating for three weeks you can’t come over to my house, which is kind of nuts. Fear is the next thing that’s going to thaw. Until that happens, whether you test people on the way in or whatever you do, at some point everybody’s going to have to be comfortable being a foot away from other people. If that fundamentally changes then a huge amount of our infrastructure disappears, which I don’t think will happen.
You kind of have to get over it (the fear). You go into a theater and you’re sitting literally within inches of people, you go in thinking that no one is going come in with enormous toxicity. No one is going to come in who has got some terrible communicable disease and sneeze on you. You kind of just trust in that. We’re all too frightened right now. We’re gonna have to get over it or everything will change.
One Way Or the Other This Is Going To Be Over or We’re Over
When we see the damage that is being done everywhere we’ll really see in the second quarter (what’s happening). How can you get fair value? I absolutely believe that in a year or two from now this will be over. One way or the other this is going to be over or we’re over. But how can you value that today? I don’t think you can do it?
II think the streaming will be impacted by (the crisis) also. You go a few more months and while people say (that Netflix) and other subscriptions to entertainment) will be the last things they’ll cut because people feel they desperately need it to just get through the day but that is eventually going to take its toll. People truly will not have the discretionary income to afford it.
Cornoavirus Doesn’t Change the Dynamics of Anything
But it doesn’t change the dynamics of anything. You’ve got the competitors. Streaming has taken over the world. Hollywood is irrelevant. The only companies that have a true path, an absolute clear business model path forward, have nothing to do with the entertainment business. Amazon and Netflix. Everybody else, good luck to them. They may be able to build subscription services that may be profitable but that world has changed forever. I think this pandemic has nothing to do with it other than earnings that are going to be much less for a while.
Of course, there are opportunities (to invest in) you just have to have a very long view or sure-footed look at things as not only they are but as you think they will be. We’re looking at some very large potential acquisitions for IAC. This is the environment where if you are acquisitive you’re going to do the thing that for many years everybody’s asked for. Oh my God, everything’s over-inflated and prices are crazy. You can’t buy things for this or that without these new premiums. Well, you know what, that’s all gone. If you’ve got capital what could be a better time than to exploit what is a terrible downfall for many companies.
You’ve Got To Bail Everyone Out, Says Barry Diller
Expedia and IAC Chairman Barry Diller said that the economic and business landscape caused by the coronavirus and the political actions to fight it have been cataclysmic. Diller does not see a return to normal anytime soon. He believes that people will first have get over being scared and that won’t be easy.
Barry Diller, Chairman of Expedia and IAC discusses our current “cataclysmic landscape in an interview on CNBC:
I See the Landscape As Cataclysmic
I see the landscape as cataclysmic,” says Diller. “We’re in something that it’s very hard to be objective about because we’re in the eye of it and we’re inside of it. We can’t really see it for what it is. Everybody says the same thing there’s been nothing like it before and while we know some things we really know nothing. We know nothing about what happened and when we’re going to get out of it. “
What will we be doing and will our habits change? Will this result in some really profound difference in people’s lives in the future? So I see it as everybody is scared. The fact that we have so much media and so much information with all it telling us that we’ve got to be quite scared about cohabitating with anyone. That ain’t good.
A Quick Return To Normalcy Will Not Happen
No, (I don’t believe that we will go back to normal on the other side of this as we did after 9/11). What I said then was that if there’s life there’s travel. I still do believe that but this is not going to be what happened then which was a very very quick return to normalcy. That is not going to happen. At best, we’ll have kind of a rolling way out.
As far as travel is concerned, while I’m absolutely optimistic that it will happen at some point, I don’t think it will be soon. It will probably be September, October, November, or December to really get life back. And in order to travel, you have got to have that. So they’re totally different conditions. This is not analogous. I don’t think this is analogous to anything and is certainly not analogous to 9/11 and to the financial crisis in 2008.
“As we continue to grow and invest in our brand more and more people are sharing their vehicles,” says Turo CEO Andre Haddad. “With our app, you can actually share your car so that you can earn money when you’re not using your car. Last year we ended the year with more than 400,000 vehicles listed and our community is now more than 10 million strong. We’re growing really rapidly. We’re hoping to be in the next few years in the same realm as ride-sharing and home-sharing.”
Andre Haddad, CEO of Turo, discusses the $250 million in new funding from IAC, the tremendous growth of their car-sharing app, as well as fights with Enterprise Rent-A-Car which has been trying to stop them in their tracks in an interview on CNBC:
We’re Hoping To Be In The Same Realm As Ride-Sharing
Turo is a great business. There are almost one-and-a-half billion cars around the world and they are idle the vast majority of the time. With our app, you can actually share your car so that you can earn money when you’re not using your car. In the last few months, we’ve seen people earning more than $500 a month sharing their car a few days a month. It’s a great opportunity for car owners to share their cars and earn money with them when they’re not using them.
We focus a lot on building trust and safety. We have a great partner with Liberty Mutual to cover all the insurance for both the car owner that is sharing their cars with their guests as well as providing coverage for guests that are driving these cars. It’s all about bringing that new idea to market and building trust and building safety for our community. As we continue to grow and invest in our brand more and more people are sharing their vehicles. Last year we ended the year with more than 400,000 vehicles listed and our community is now more than 10 million strong. We’re growing really rapidly. We’re hoping to be in the next few years in the same realm as ride-sharing and home-sharing.
We’re Very Excited To Partner With IAC
We’re very excited to partner with IAC. IAC is an incredible company that has a lot of expertise in the world of marketplaces. We’re looking forward to collaborating with Joey Levin and the team at IAC to help accelerate our progress and help accelerate our growth. We obviously want to invest more in our expansion. We want to refine our customer experience and we’d like to expand into more markets. Those are the key priorities for us in the next few years.
Over the last few months, we’ve seen that the average host is sharing their vehicle roughly a third of the time, about ten days a month. With that ten days a month they’re earning roughly $550 of earnings on a monthly basis. As you can imagine with $550 of earnings you can pay for your car payment. It’s an incredible deal for a lot of people who are using the app. Traditional ownership implies utilization that’s less than 10 percent of the time. It’s a very inefficient use of an asset that depreciates really rapidly and has a lot of fixed costs. Turo is a tremendous opportunity for people who want to make better use of their asset.
Enterprise Is Trying To Avoid Competition So We’re Fighting Back
We are faced with a lot of challenges on the regulatory front. Really it’s driven by the traditional rental car industry and by Enterprise in particular. I think the traditional car rental players are concerned that consumers now have a bit more choice. They are concerned that we have probably a better selection, better value, and better convenience as an alternative to the traditional options of car rental. We’ve definitely been battling Enterprise this year. There are 37 states in the United States alone where we have gone into government relation battles with Enterprise. They’re trying to pass laws that will restrict the ability for consumers to share their cars. They’re trying to avoid competition so we’re fighting back.
We’ve been building a strong coalition of like-minded people. We have great support from the car manufacturing industry and from the insurance industry. We have prevailed in all of these regulatory battles this year. We have prevailed in 25 state regulatory battles last year as well. We’re trying to be very vigilant when it comes to protecting the ability for consumers to share their cars and we’re going to continue to fight these battles.
Turo Car-Sharing App Gets $250 Million From IAC To Take On Car Rental Industry – Turo CEO Andre Haddad
“If it’s a streaming war we’d like to be an arms dealer,” says IAC CEO Joey Levin. “We want to send the product and services to people who are making video. Video is relevant not just to people building streaming services, which there are now endless amounts of that and endless amounts of capital, but also every small business and every event. Everywhere people interact they’re expecting video now. It used to be text, then it was images, and now it’s video.”
Joey Levin, CEO of IAC, discusses their position as the “arms dealer” in the streaming wars in an interview on CNBC at The Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference:
If It’s a Streaming War We’d Like To Be an Arms Dealer
If it’s a streaming war we’d like to be an arms dealer. We want to send the product and services to people who are making video. Video is relevant not just to people building streaming services, which there are now endless amounts of that and endless amounts of capital, but also every small business and every event. Everywhere people interact they’re expecting video now. It used to be text, then it was images, and now it’s video. People need the tools to make that and our goal is to provide them.
I’m thrilled (we pivoted away from being a platform for streaming) now that everyone’s jumping into that space. I think between the time we announced that we were going to get into the streaming wars and the time we backed out there was another several billion dollars within a few months that entered the category. We were not competing with weapons that size and thought we’d be better off being a service provider.
It’s Possible To Compete With Google But They Have To Play Fairly
I don’t know what the right answer is (regarding breaking up big tech companies such as Google and Facebook) but I do know that we need an answer. Regulations are very hard to get right. I think frequently regulations in areas like that end up helping the incumbents. Those companies have already built huge data stores and they know what to do with those. It’ll just make it harder for the next people that come in to gather the data they need to compete. I don’t know how the regulations would work. I’d love to see that happen. I’d love to see regulations allow for more competition and protect competition, but it’s hard to see how that’s going to work. I don’t think GDPR did that really and I don’t know what would. They may need other solutions.
I think it’s possible (to compete with Google) but they have to play fairly. They have a significant position in search and they have a significant position in other areas too and that’s where a lot of people start their behavior. If Google starts favoring its own products or continues favoring its own products that is not going to leave room for others. I think that’s not necessarily great for the country.
In Deciding To Take a Company Public We Take a Long-Term Perspective
We don’t think a lot about a particular market state when we’re taking a company publicly. We think about what’s right for the company at the time. Does the company need access to capital? Does the company need a currency? Could a company benefit in some way by being public and having a public currency? It’s kind of independent of what market we’re in at that moment (when we decide it’s the right) time to take a company public. Just because the market might be hot or valuations might be high doesn’t mean we need to hit that window because we take a much longer-term perspective.
The (recent IPOs) are all different and they all have their own story. There are fantastic companies going public. I think it’ll be good for investors and they have opportunities to invest in them. It’s better that their public in a lot of cases than being private where a limited number of people can invest in them.
We Now Match 100 Percent of Employee 401k Contributions
I think there are different answers for different businesses (regarding potential regulations that could shut down the gig economy). We have businesses that have gig economy workers, 1099 workers, and we have businesses that are very big on W2 workers. The question is are the employees or the people doing the work getting the benefits that they want and getting the benefits that they need? Many of them prefer to be independent contractors and many of them prefer some of the benefits of independent contractors. Others like BlueCrew, which is all W2 workers, want benefits and need the things that come with being a W2 worker. Each business has its own needs on that.
One of the other things that we’re doing at IAC right now that’s really important for our 8,000 employees is we just announced a big change to our 401k plan to address the income inequality gap, to get more people investing in the market, to get more people participating in the economy and in capitalism. We are now matching a hundred percent of people’s 401k contributions up to 10% of their salary which is I think relatively unheard of among our competitors and other companies. I’m hoping other people follow that.
If It’s a Streaming War We’d Like To Be an Arms Dealer, Says IAC CEO Joey Levin
“It’s all of broadcasting that’s in danger because of what’s happened with streaming and with other services in that the only people who are willing to watch commercials are people that can’t afford to buy the goods being sold,” says media mogul Barry Diller. “That’s an existential long-term issue. It’s a fascinating time because it truly is a giant arms race. When you have a giant arms race it really is kind of last dollar in.”
Barry Diller, Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC and Expedia, discusses how streaming has upended broadcasting and Hollywood in an interview on CNBC at The Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference:
Don’t Know Who Is Going To Win The Streaming Wars
I don’t know who is going to “win this” (the streaming wars). This is a weird transformation. Ten years ago you essentially have these six movie companies that had hegemony over the entire production-distribution business. Along comes two complete outsiders, Netflix and Amazon, that totally upended what was a kind of a stable business in terms of how it functioned all throughout the world. If you owned a movie company you kind of had a worldwide franchise. Now you have an arms race that never existed before. You have a complete blurring of television and movies which only happened in the last couple of years.
You have these two new entrants which have forced not only consolidation on the old players but forced them to now make investments in their wildest dreams they’ve never had to make before. So you have Disney which has mobilized itself like a true, God-knows, super force wanting to compete in streaming because of these two big players, Amazon and Netflix. You have AT&T reorganizing itself, buying Time Warner. They’re going to compete.
Hollywood Was a Cottage Industry and Now It’s an Arms Race
How many people are going to be at this table five or ten years from now? I think it’s impossible to say. Hollywood is irrelevant. It is irrelevant to the following extent. Before, anything those majors did was kind of an absolute. You couldn’t dislodge them, you couldn’t do anything. So along comes two outside players and everybody is completely dislodged and discombobulated because they can’t get access directly to the audience.
The fact that they’re competing and the fact that you’ve got two big funded players─although they do have a lot of debt─Disney and AT&T, who are going to enter this in a very vigorous way, but that has nothing to do with what we used to call or think of “Hollywood.” This was a cottage industry and now it’s an arms race.
All of Broadcasting Is In Danger From Streaming
I’ve said this to my parral, no one is going to compete with Netflix in gross subscribers. I believe they have won the game. There is nothing that I can see that is going to dislodge them. Amazon is in a completely different business in that it’s selling Prime which gives you all sorts of services, just among them is video and television. Disney has the best chance just because of its very very popular content and the money, the distribution, and the Disney name that it’s putting behind it. Disney has the best chance to get millions of new subscribers. Will they ever get to Netflix (subscriber levels). I don’t think so. I don’t think it matters much.
I never thought and don’t believe that it takes size really (to compete) because if you’re making content there are so many buyers. You don’t need to have any size, you just need to have some talent and some energy and you can do well. Can you build a big empire? Unlikely. I don’t think that the smaller players are necessarily in danger. It’s all of broadcasting that’s in danger because of what’s happened with streaming and with other services in that the only people who are willing to watch commercials are people that can’t afford to buy the goods being sold. That’s an existential long-term issue. It’s a fascinating time because it truly is a giant arms race. When you have a giant arms race it really is kind of last dollar in.
I Think That Regulation Is Mandatory (of Big Tech)
I have absolutely always thought and always believed in sensible regulation (in regards to Google, Facebook, and others). When you get to be of a certain size and when you influence markets there should be regulation that’s tailored to some of the things that are outgrowths of you having a certain kind of market size where you can dictate things that may not be in, let’s call it fair playing field, best interest of all players, etc. I think that regulation is mandatory. I think that it will happen.
I don’t think that these companies should be “broken up” unless it is proven that regulation doesn’t work. I’ve lived in environments where I grew up in broadcasting, broadcasting was a very regulated world. You actually got your license from the government and they could take it away from you. That’s sword over your head made you act. If you didn’t want to act decently, it sure of spurred you along the way. So I’m a believer in good regulation. I’m hopeful.
All of Broadcasting Is In Danger From Streaming, Says Barry Diller
Internet pioneer Barry Diller says that the Internet revolution is still really young. He also says that this truly radical revolution is right now a very troubled revolution.
Barry Diller, Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC and Expedia, Inc., recently reflected on the relative youthfulness of the Internet and areas which are still ripe for entrepreneurs. IAC owns popular dating platforms such as Tinder and Match.
Below are Barry Diller’s comments made during an interview on Fox Business which you can watch in its entirety below:
The Internet Revolution is Still Really Young
The growth is just part of the revolution. People forget that the internet revolution is still really young, only 22 or 23 years. It took 10-15 years just to get up enough bandwidth to actually have rich media being served through it. We are really at the very earliest stage of this.
Expedia is one of the first companies to kind of colonize travel for the internet 20 years ago. That’s a world where the colonization of all these businesses is just now coming on ‘full line’ where you can do almost everything and almost everything more through digital platforms. So the growth is everywhere.
Fintech is Just Now Going Mainstream
Financial technology, Fintech, is just now really getting into very much mainstream. Big companies are being built for this. For us, it’s home services. Being able to the same thing you do when you want a car, being taken someplace rather than drive yourself, where you have an app and with Uber. Home service, which has been one of the most difficult areas to tame.
It’s the most, essentially, local of everything. It’s where your water heater breaks, your air conditioning doesn’t work, just take it on the emergency or quick service side, and you want help. Now there is an app in Angie Home Services in Home Advisor where literally you do the same thing. You say I need a plumber and it will show you plumbers hovering around, Uberish like service providers, where you will be able to do the full-service of that transaction on your mobile device because it’s there and it’s ready for you.
It’s Really a Platform
That is just now at it’s very earliest stages. It’s just one example where the growth runway is infinite. It’s really a platform. The platform takes consumers over here who have needs and service providers over here who provide services and through technology, it makes a perfect match or at least a good match.
That’s what all of those things are, they are platforms. Once you have a platform then when you say will others be created, well certainly there will be other platforms created, but there won’t be that many because the network effects have to come into play.
Tinder is Now Moving on the Same Track as Match
We’ve been involved in Match almost 20 years I think. We bought Match quite early in the cycle. We found that… you know what, that’s a very good idea. We found this little company in Texas called Match.com which we bought. The thing is when you say it’s just now becoming where people get married, we had over a million marriages ten years ago come from Match.com.
Then the technology moved forward and you have Tinder, which is actually younger in terms of people. People on Match were fairly serious, yes they wanted to date and see what happened on a little one-time date, but they also really wanted relationships. Tinder got younger and earlier stage of pre-relationship, one-time dating or one-time whatever. But now, it is moving on the same track as Match did where real relationships are coming out of Tinder. It’s an alternative to the historic pattern of going to bars or being fixed up. This actually does bring technology into the mix.
This is a Truly Radical Revolution
When you are inside of a revolution, which I was just lucky enough in timing to get into in a very early stage, you don’t realize the effects of what is happening around you. This is a truly radical revolution. Right now it is a very troubled revolution which happens at very early stages.
Part 1 of Barry Diller interview on the Internet Revolution:
Part 2 of Barry Diller interview on the Internet Revolution:
As previously reported, Yahoo is said to be having meetings this week about the possibility of selling off its core business and/or getting more out of its stake in Alibaba Group Holding.
The Wall Street Journal reported late on Tuesday that Yahoo’s board would discuss these things in meetings Wednesday through Friday.
Yahoo shareholders haven’t been incredibly thrilled with the Marissa Mayer-led company after three years. Activist shareholder Starboard called on Yahoo last month to put a stop to its plan to spin off the Alibaba stake, which is otherwise expected to happen next month. Starboard wants Yahoo to sell its core web businesses (search and advertising) instead.
A later report from Kara Swisher, who has a long history of reporting on insider Yahoo information, said Yahoo’s board is behind Mayer and doesn’t want to sell the core web business. Swisher also says her sources indicate the company has already selected a CEO for Abaco Holdings, which is the what the Alibaba stake’s spinoff is called.
The WSJ has a new report out naming companies likely to explore a purchase of Yahoo’s core business. These include Verizon, IAC/InteraActive Corp., News Corp., and Time Inc. It also says private equity firm TPG Capital has looked at buying media properties within Yahoo.
Tinder CEO Sean Rad has been forced out of the role, but will be staying with the company in the capacity of President and board member. Rad founded the company behind the hottest dating app out there, but events unrelated to the app’s performance have led to his demotion.
The news didn’t come in a formal announcement from Tinder or a press release from IAC, which holds a majority stake in the company. It came in a Forbes report with quotes from Rad himself, from his boss at IAC, Sam Yagan, and from other unnamed insiders. So this isn’t a rumor. It’s happening.
You can read the full four-page article here, which gives a lot of background and compares the story to Shakespeare (yeah, the report is really that dramatic).
Long story short, IAC wants a more experienced executive to run the show, and used a recent highly-publicized sexual harassment lawsuit as a reason to take the CEO title away from Rad. Former executive Whitney Wolfe had sued Tinder and IAC for harassment by former CMO and best friend of Rad, Justin Mateen. She also claimed Mateen and Rad had stripped her title as co-founder of the company because she was a woman. The parties reached a settlement in September, but as we now know, that was hardly the end of it.
From the Forbes report:
Rad had the title of founder, but he didn’t have control over his own fate at the company. Which led a few weeks later to the call in Philly. “If the Whitney thing didn’t happen it would be difficult for IAC to demote Sean, because they’d have a lot to answer for,” says one insider. “But the lawsuit gave them an out.”
Rad will remain in the CEO role until his replacement is found. While he will reportedly hold the President title and a spot on the board, it will be interesting to see what happens when that replacement is instated.
“We’re looking for an Eric Schmidt-like person,” Rad is quoted as saying. “There is no CEO coming in the door that I don’t get along with—that would be corporate suicide.”
The timing of this whole situation is pretty interesting because Tinder is pretty much killing it, and Rad just announced the company’s first revenue strategy a couple weeks ago (at the Forbes 30 Under 30 Summit no less). It is offering a premium service, which will “let users break away from location limits and expand their Tinder reach.”
Meanwhile the company claims to have seen 600% growth over the past year with 40 million downloads since launching in 2012. 30 million people are registered, and 14,000 people are being checked out on the app every second.
For Tinder itself, the outlook is pretty good. We’ll see if Rad really does stay around for the ride.
IAC’s Mindspark Interactive Network announced that it has launched Heroic Play, a destination where Avengers fans can play various Marvel games, as well as get Marvel news and view Marvel related messages shared across social media.
Heroic Play launched with 15 games with characters from The Avengers and the larger Marvel universe. The company timed the launch to coincide with the DVD release of the hit film. That hit stores on Tuesday.
“We worked closely with Marvel to create a one-stop gaming destination for fans looking for fast and free access to their much-loved Marvel superheroes,” said Mike Primiani, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Mindspark Consumer Products. “With the website and toolbar platform, users are able to connect to the Marvel gaming experience however they choose.”
“Mindspark has been a terrific partner in helping us bring the gaming experience of The Avengers and many other Marvel characters to a wider audience,” said Andreea Enache-Thune, Senior Vice President, Marvel Games and Digital Distribution. “They have created an outlet for fans of all ages to interact with and connect to some of our most unforgettable games.”
The site also includes a feed of Twitter messages, aggregated using Marvel-related keywords. There’s also a Heroic Play Toolbar, which includes links to games and a gameplay widget that lets you play from the toolbar itself.
IAC has completed the acquisition of the ad-supported dating site for an undisclosed sum. DateHookup generated over $500 million in revenue in 2011.
“DateHookup has built a sizable and active community of online singles in the U.S., reaching demographics and markets that complement IAC’s existing online dating companies. We can leverage our expertise and initiatives from our other sites to drive incremental contribution, improving an already attractive acquisition multiple,” said Lance Barton, Vice President of M&A for IAC. “This aligns with our strategy of acquiring companies where we can add real value and create long-term growth.”
Other IAC dating properties include: Match.com, OKCupid, Chemistry, BlackPeopleMeet.com, SeniorPeopleMeet.com,SinglePeopleMeet.com, LoveAndSeek.com, BBPeopleMeet.com, and Singlesnet.com.
IAC announced that its Ask.com property has agreed to acquire The About Group from The New York Times for $300 million. The About Group, of course, is the company behind About.com. The deal was signed on Sunday.
“The About.com acquisition is completely in line with IAC’s M&A strategy of acquiring, at disciplined valuations, companies that are complementary and synergistic with both our existing businesses and our areas of expertise,” said IAC CEO Greg Blatt. “We are extremely excited to bring these two businesses together; About.com’s content will differentiate and greatly increase the authority of Ask.com’s offerings, while Ask’s expertise in search technology and user experience will improve the discoverability of existing content on About.com.”
“The complementary nature of these two businesses will provide significant synergies going forward, and thus we expect that About.com will generate more profit as a part of Ask.com and IAC than it has been able to over the last few years,” added Blatt.
This could also be another way for Ask to get more content in front of Google users, as About.com content is often returned on the first page of results.
The About Group will join IAC’s Search And Applications reporting segment, where it will reside with Ask.com, Dictionary.com, Mindspark, Pronto and nRelate, which it acquired last month.
“This is a rare merger with true bilateral synergies,” said Joey Levin, CEO of IAC Search & Applications. “On the one hand, the Ask.com search and content business has generated exceptional revenue and profit growth by marketing and distributing a quality consumer search and Q&A experience, and About provides Ask with a tremendous amount of quality content to further enhance that experience and the credibility of the Ask brand.”
“On the other hand, About.com has created, and today continues to grow, a library of content which consumers love across a vast array of categories, and we can now market and distribute that content and the About brand through Ask and significantly increase traffic and profitability at About,” added Levin.
About CEO Darline Jean will report to Ask.com CEO Doug Leeds.
Procrastination and a fear of commitment apparently didn’t enter the equation when it came to renewing a longstanding search and advertising agreement between Google and IAC. This morning, IAC announced that the two companies have extended their deal through March of 2016.
The original deal wasn’t set to expire until the end of 2012, so the timing of this development comes as a bit of a surprise. Most people and organizations cut things a little closer, and a lot could change between now and then in terms of search technology or even the value of a dollar (economists seem to mention the word “inflation” a lot these days).
Today’s announcement signals that Google’s been an excellent partner for IAC, anyway, which is good news for both sides.
The announcement could even push other companies to give the idea of a search and advertising deal with Google a second look.
Greg Blatt, the CEO of IAC, stated, “Our Search business has grown meaningfully over the past five years, from $58 million in Operating Income Before Amortization in 2006 to $125 million last year, and generated pre-tax free cash flow in excess of $500 million over that period. The industry continues to grow at attractive rates and we have every opportunity for continued growth and success.”
Unfortunately for investors, not all the news is so cheery, as both companies’ stocks are sinking today. Google’s stock is down 0.35 percent and IAC’s stock is down 1.29 percent at the moment, although there are sure to be many other factors at work.
Taking advantage of all the buzz about daily deals, CitySearch has taken it upon itself to provide a convenient way for user to check out available deals from one spot (an iPhone or Android app).
CitySearch, a business of IAC, has launched Deals by Citysearch, a location-enabled local deals app that aggregates deals from advertisers from its CityGrid Media, as well as from third-parties like Groupon, TheDealMap, etc.
"Consumers are tired of having their inbox flooded with daily deals. What our users need is not another daily email but a mobile offering serving up the most relevant offers so they can say, ‘These deals are about me,’" said JP Bedoya, Senior Director of Citysearch. "We have curated the best local deals and allow users to search based on their individual needs when they are on the go."
CitySearch also added a new Deals section to its website.
For the Android app, CitySearch worked with Skyhook to integrate its location engine into the Deals product.
CitySearch complemented the launch with a contest, allowing one person to win a month of free deals.
Less than a month after IAC’s Ask.com announced its decision to stop competing in the search market, another major change is taking place as Barry Diller gives up the title "CEO of IAC." Gregg Blatt, who previously served as CEO of Match.com, will replace Diller.
Diller, an industry legend, isn’t leaving the company, in any event; he’ll now act as "Chairman and Senior Executive." Also, Diller intends to purchase enough stock over the next nine months to increase his voting share to more than 40 percent, so it’s not like he’ll be an important figure in name only.
Diller just explained in a statement, "It’s been clear to me for some time that this Company needs a full time aggressive and aspirational executive in the CEO role. While I’m not going anywhere, IAC, with its operating businesses growing, large cash resources and virtually no debt, needs the kind of leadership that Greg Blatt can bring it in order to continue to grow and thrive many years into the future."
So back to Blatt. Blatt became CEO of Match.com in early 2009, and the site experienced record growth under his supervision. Before that, he served as executive vice president, general counsel, and a member of the Office of the Chairman at IAC, and put in some time at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, too.
Blatt said with regards to his promotion, "I couldn’t be more excited about the new position and the opportunities in front of IAC."
Earlier this month, Viacom’s supporters came out in force, formally taking the corporation’s side in its legal dispute with YouTube. Now eBay, Facebook, IAC, and Yahoo have acted to sort of balance the situation, stepping forward to ally themselves with YouTube.
Much as Disney, NBC, and Warner Bros. (along with 11 other organizations) did several weeks ago, the four companies showed their support by filing an amicus curiae ("friend of the court") brief, so this isn’t just a matter of everyone trying to grab headlines in the hope a judge will be swayed by one.
Also, in the brief, eBay, Facebook, IAC, and Yahoo argued that much more than the fate of a single video-sharing site is at stake, stating, "Plaintiffs’ legal arguments, if accepted, would retard the development of the Internet and electronic commerce."
Of course, as we noted last time, judges aren’t supposed to put legal decisions to a vote, and a lot of lawyers have probably already made these points in court.
Still, the YouTube-Viacom lawsuit – which was a huge deal even before this month’s developments – is starting to turn into a legal showdown of epic proportions as more and more parties become involved.
![Yahoo Has Interest From Verizon, IAC/InterActive, News Corp, Time [Report]](https://dev.webpronews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/marissa-mayer1.png)
Today’s announcement signals that Google’s been an excellent partner for IAC, anyway, which is good news for both sides.
Diller, an industry legend, isn’t leaving the company, in any event; he’ll now act as "Chairman and Senior Executive." Also, Diller intends to purchase enough stock over the next nine months to increase his voting share to more than 40 percent, so it’s not like he’ll be an important figure in name only.