AP Story
Internet company IAC/InterActiveCorp said it is in talks to buy Yahoo Inc.'s online-dating business, after posting a first-quarter loss due to advertising woes.
IAC Chief Executive Barry Diller said Wednesday his company was in discussions aimed at acquiring Yahoo Personals, but he cautioned that it was too early to know whether the talks would succeed.
"We would love to have Yahoo Personals, and there are discussions about that," Mr. Diller said on a conference call. IAC owns rival dating site Match.com.
Yahoo management has weighed whether to sell its match-making site for several years, according to people familiar with the matter. But Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz has expressed a new desire to shutter or sell products that aren't core to its business. The company has also explored selling its job-listing service HotJobs, these people said. A Yahoo spokeswoman declined to comment.
InterActive Corp. CEO Barry Diller adds Yahoo
personals to Ask, Home Shopping Network
and the IAC web properties.
IAC recently made moves to spin off Expedia.com
personals to Ask, Home Shopping Network
and the IAC web properties.
IAC recently made moves to spin off Expedia.com
Gene Munster, analyst at Piper Jaffray, said Yahoo Personals could be worth about $500 million, or three to four times an estimated $150 million in annual revenue for the unit.
IAC, which owns the Ask.com search engine, also Wednesday cautioned that the prices advertisers pay for search keywords dropped 5% to 20% in the first quarter and prices have not changed in April, suggesting the company's difficulties would continue into the second quarter.
Mr. Diller cautioned that the economy may not yet have hit bottom. "Unfortunately, from whatever standpoint you sit, I do not think it's over. I think we have a lot more to come," he said.
In the first quarter, IAC posted a net loss of $28.6 million, or 19 cents a share, compared with year-earlier profit of $52.5 million, or 38 cents a share. The prior-year results included the operations since spun off. Revenue fell 10% to $332 million.
