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IAC is the venture capital-like public company powering Match

Wednesday, August 7, 2019 by Snacks

Tinder gets all the looks... And it's owned by Match, whose stock surged 19% Tuesday as the dating app's growth jumped again. But it wasn't just Match that popped — IAC shares rose 12% too. That's because IAC owns the majority of Match, along with 150 other brands that you likely used at some point today.

It's all in the name... "InterActive." That's what IAC's "I" and "A" stand for. And its legendary leader Barry Diller (aka designer Diane von Furstenberg's husband) is obsessed with that. So the company invests in innovative apps that it thinks have viral interactive potential — people-to-people platforms and shareability are its thing. Recognize this IAC portfolio candy?

  • Public companies: IAC has launched 10 of them, including Match. It's also got ANGI Home Services, the company behind Angie's List, HomeAdvisor, and Handy, to connect you with someone to build/fix/repair/clean the thing you can't.
  • Private startups: College Humor (aggressively shareable videos), Investopedia (financial info), Ask (yes, this used to be Ask Jeeves), The Daily Beast (news), and plenty more viral-ish digital media.
THE TAKEAWAY

IAC acts like a venture capital firm... but it's a publicly-traded company. That's unique. Most VCs who got in early to Uber or Pinterest are companies that you can't invest in — only the extra-wealthy or institutions typically get access. Yet IAC has become the Berkshire Hathaway of tech, giving retail investors access to a portfolio committed to a specific theme: digital interaction.

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