IAC breaks down to five new companies

NEW YORK, Aug. 21 (UPI) -- InterActiveCorp said Thursday it had completed spin offs that would create five separate companies out of its 60 mostly U.S. brands.

The firm, which includes Ticketmaster, LendingTree, Ask.com, and HSN, formerly the Home Shopping Network, will begin trading Thursday in its new configuration, the company said.

"Armed with outstanding management teams, appropriate capital structures and their own currencies, HSNi, Ticketmaster, Interval and Tree.com are now ready for independent futures," IAC Chief Executive Officer Barry Diller said in a statement.

In the new setup, Diller will lead Ticketmaster and run IAC, where he controls 60 percent of the voting shares, USA Today reported.

Diller is known for his push for combined company synergies. But, the new style is a move that would make better sense to investors, analysts said.

"No one could make heads or tails of it. You needed a playbook to figure out whether IAC was making or losing money," Vogel Capital Management CEO Harold Vogel said.