NEW YORK, June 25, 2015 /PRNewswire/
-- IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IACI) announced today that its
Board of Directors has approved the pursuit of an initial public
offering (IPO) of newly-issued shares of common stock of The Match
Group. IAC also announced that Joey
Levin, formerly CEO of its Search & Applications
business, has been named CEO of IAC and joined its Board of
Directors. Greg Blatt will remain Chairman, and Sam Yagan
CEO, of The Match Group.
"As many know from our actions over the last 20 years, I'm not a
believer in simply agglomerating assets in perpetuity.
I've long felt that as entities grow into size and maturity it's
healthy to give them separation and independence from a mother
church," said Barry Diller, IAC's
Chairman and Senior Executive. "Over the last two decades,
IAC and its progeny have grown into seven separate public companies
with a current shareholder value of over $44
billion – given that we started with a base of $275 million, it's a more than satisfactory
record. As part of this evolution, in 2008 we spun off four
companies simultaneously, leaving us with a much smaller IAC.
Since that time we've grown the Company substantially, more than
quadrupling the Company's value, with The Match Group leading the
way – and so now, under the superb leadership of Greg Blatt and Sam
Yagan, we want to take the step of offering the public the
ability to own shares directly in this singular area of Internet
activity."
"As for IAC, we now have a group of assets with great potential
and, with the appointment of Joey
Levin as CEO, a leader who has the youth, energy and ability
to develop them in hopefully the same growth track as has been
demonstrated throughout our twenty year history. We start
with nearly 20 individual businesses, a strong balance sheet and I
believe the same level of ambition as we had at the
beginning. I'm really confident that Joey and his nearly
4,000 employees have the resources and talent to build another
great pile of assets, and to perpetually spin them out to the
benefit of shareholders: it's a unique model, worth both preserving
and reinvigorating."
"Today's changes highlight both the incredible historical
success at The Match Group and the exciting collection of assets
within IAC," said Mr. Levin. "At IAC, we have companies with
extraordinary potential in very large markets, a strong balance
sheet, and an excellent team. In my 12 years at IAC, the one
constant has been our ability to find, nurture, and grow businesses
to global scale by giving great people great opportunities and
access to the resources to be ambitious. Our current
portfolio of businesses, combined with judicious use of our balance
sheet, provides a tremendous opportunity to deliver value in the
years ahead."
IAC expects The Match Group to issue less than 20% of its common
stock in the initial public offering, with IAC's
remaining stake in The Match Group represented by both high- and
low-vote common shares. The IPO is expected to be completed during
the fourth quarter of this year.
"The Match Group is poised for substantial growth in the coming
years," said Mr. Blatt. "The dating industry has come a long
way since its inception, but the category remains
underpenetrated. We believe the combination of our more
established businesses such as Match, Meetic, and OurTime, and
earlier stage businesses such as Tinder and OkCupid, creates an
attractive combination of significant cash flow generation, strong
margins and meaningful growth potential. We believe the
natural expansion of the market and our portfolio approach to
capturing it provide a strong foundation for our future
success. Sam and I look forward to continuing to lead this
company and its incredibly talented and dedicated teams of
employees into this exciting next chapter."
IAC also announced today that Chief Financial Officer
Jeff Kip is resigning from the
company to spend more time with his family in Boston, and to pursue other interests. Mr. Kip
will remain with IAC for an interim period and will help with
transition to a new CFO.
"Jeff has been a strong and talented executive over the last
three years," said Diller. "We thank him for his many
contributions, fully support his decision to move closer to his
family and thank him for his help in transitioning to his
successor."
Mr. Kip has served as Executive Vice President and Chief
Financial Officer since March 2012,
and has been responsible for overseeing corporate finance, investor
relations, accounting, tax, treasury and M&A at IAC.
"I am grateful to Barry and the IAC management team for
affording me the opportunity to serve as the CFO of such a great,
dynamic company," said Kip. "Today's announcements make clear
that exciting times lie ahead for IAC, and I am confident that
Joey Levin's leadership of the
enterprise will take it to new heights and in exciting
directions."
This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the
solicitation of an offer to buy securities, and shall not
constitute an offer, solicitation, or sale in any jurisdiction in
which such offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful prior to
registration or qualification under the securities laws of that
jurisdiction.
About IAC
IAC (NASDAQ: IACI) is a leading media and Internet company. It
is organized into four segments: The Match Group, which consists of
dating, education and fitness businesses with brands such as
Match.com, OkCupid, Tinder, The Princeton Review and DailyBurn;
Search & Applications, which includes brands such as About.com,
Ask.com, Dictionary.com and Investopedia; Media, which consists of
businesses such as Vimeo, Electus, The Daily Beast and
CollegeHumor; and eCommerce, which includes HomeAdvisor and
ShoeBuy. IAC's brands and products are among the most
recognized in the world reaching users in over 200 countries.
The Company is headquartered in New York City and has
offices worldwide. To view a full list of IAC companies, please
visit www.iac.com.
About Joey Levin
Joey Levin has served as the CEO
of IAC Search & Applications, overseeing the desktop software,
mobile applications, and media properties that comprises IAC's
Search & Applications segment, including About.com, Apalon,
Ask.com, Ask.fm, Citysearch, CityGrid, Dictionary.com,
Investopedia, Mindspark, PriceRunner, and SlimWare. Prior to
being appointed to his role at IAC Search & Applications, Mr.
Levin served as Senior Vice President, Mergers & Acquisitions
and Finance for IAC, and held various roles within IAC since
joining the company in 2003. Prior to joining IAC, Mr. Levin worked
in the Technology Mergers & Acquisitions group for Credit
Suisse First Boston (now Credit Suisse) in San Francisco advising public and private
technology and e-commerce companies on a variety of
transactions. Mr. Levin graduated from the Jerome Fisher
Program in Management & Technology from the University of Pennsylvania, with a B.S. in
Economics from the Wharton School and a B.A.S. in Engineering from
the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
About The Match Group
The Match Group is the world's leading provider of dating
products, redefining the way millions of people meet, date and
start relationships every day. We offer our products under nearly
50 brands, translated into nearly 40 languages and available in
more than 200 countries across five continents. Our principal
brands include Match, Tinder, Meetic, OkCupid and OurTime. We
generate revenues through a combination of subscription,
transaction and advertising models, distributed through desktop and
mobile devices. Each product within our portfolio caters to
different communities defined by geography, demographics and
relationship sensibility. More than 7 million people sign up for
our products every month. The Match Group also operates The
Princeton Review and DailyBurn, two businesses outside the dating
space that leverage the company's experiences in direct-to-consumer
digital service business models. For more information please
visit www.iac.com.
Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995
This press release contains "forward‑looking statements" within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. The use of words such as "anticipates," "expects,"
"intends," "plans" and "believes," among others, generally identify
forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements
include statements relating to: future financial performance,
business prospects and strategy, anticipated trends, prospects in
the industries in which our businesses operate and other similar
matters. These forward‑looking statements are based on
management's current expectations and assumptions about future
events, which are inherently subject to uncertainties, risks and
changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict.
Actual results could differ materially from those contained in
these forward‑looking statements for a variety of reasons,
including, among others: changes in senior management at IAC or its
businesses, changes in our relationship with Google, adverse
changes in economic conditions, adverse trends in the online
advertising industry, our ability to convert visitors to our
websites into users, risks relating to acquisitions,
technology changes, our ability to expand successfully into
international markets and regulatory changes. Certain of these and
other risks and uncertainties are discussed in IAC's filings with
the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). Other unknown
or unpredictable factors that could also adversely affect our
business, financial condition and results of operations may arise
from time to time. In light of these risks and uncertainties,
these forward‑looking statements may not prove to be
accurate. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on
these forward‑looking statements, which only reflect the views of
our management as of the date of this press release. We do
not undertake to update these forward-looking statements.
Contact Us
IAC Investor Relations
Mark
Schneider / Alexandra
Caffrey
(212) 314-7400
IAC Corporate Communications
Isabelle Weisman
(212) 314-7361
IAC
555 West 18th Street, New York, NY
10011 (212) 314-7300 http://iac.com
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SOURCE IAC/Interactivecorp