The Internet conglomerate run by Barry Diller said its first-quarter net profit fell to $52.8 million, or 18 cents per share, from $60.7 million, or 20 cents per share, a year ago.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - IAC/InterActiveCorp <IACI.O>, which plans to spin off four of its largest units, said on Wednesday its quarterly profit fell from a year ago, hurt by declines at its catalog business and a loss at online mortgage site LendingTree.
The Internet conglomerate run by Barry Diller said its first-quarter net profit fell to $52.8 million, or 18 cents per share, from $60.7 million, or 20 cents per share, a year ago.
Excluding special items, earnings for the latest quarter totaled 30 cents per share, slightly below the average Wall Street forecast of 31 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates.
Revenue rose 8 percent to $1.6 billion, helped by a 9 percent increase at its HSN cable shopping network and excluding the operations of America's Store, which ceased last year.
!ADVERTISEMENT!Diller is working on plans to separate HSN, LendingTree, the Ticketmaster box office service and the Interval time-share exchange company from IAC, which will then focus on the company's faster-growing Web media and advertising operations.
The former television and film executive won a court battle last month against IAC's controlling shareholder, Liberty Media Corp, which tried to oust him over the proposed control structure of the spin-offs.
While a Delaware court upheld Diller's authority at the company as chairman and chief executive, he must still smooth over differences with Liberty and its Chairman John Malone to reach an agreement over details of the spin-offs.
Investors are hoping the plan is carried out by the end of the third quarter, at the latest.
On Wednesday, IAC highlighted the performance of what it calls "New IAC" -- businesses that will remain with the company, including online dating service Match.com and search engine Ask.com -- in its statement on results.
It said New IAC companies posted combined revenue growth of 22 percent in the first quarter to $392 million. The operating loss attributed to New IAC narrowed to $33.3 million from $39.2 million a year ago.
(Reporting by Michele Gershberg, editing by Mark Porter and Dave Zimmerman)
