IAC

By Carlos Bonachea
IAC Logo

Courtesy of IAC Press Kit [1]

555 W. 18th St.
New York, NY 10011
Phone: 212-314-7300
Website: www.iac.com

Key Executives

Barry Diller - Chairman and Senior Executive, IAC & Chairman and Senior Executive, Expedia, Inc.Chairman and Senior Executive, IAC - Chairman and Senior Executive, Expedia, Inc.

Barry Diller – Chairman and Senior Executive, IAC & Chairman and Senior Executive, Expedia, Inc.
Courtesy of the official IAC website [2].

Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Courtesy of the official IAC website

Jeff Kip – Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Courtesy of official IAC website [3].

Victor Kaufman – Vice Chairman, oversees all strategic planning, financial and legal matters.
Courtesy of official IAC website [4].

      IAC remains at the forefront of internet commerce, communication, and media by strategically managing the investment, acquisition, and sale of some of the worlds most innovative companies [5]. IAC began as Silver King Communications Inc., a television company led by Barry Diller, who previously was in charge of Fox Broadcasting as well as Paramount Pictures prior to that. [6]

      IAC now boasts over 1.3 billion total monthly visits amongst it’s network of sites and controls over 150 brands and products all at the cutting edge of web commerce and modern living. IAC has spawned six independent publicly traded companies – Expedia, TripAdvisor, HSN, Tree, Interval, and Live Nation (formerly Ticketmaster). Simply put IAC is the 9th largest network in the world and one of Fortune’s most admired companies in the internet services sector. [5] [7]

About_Overview_Nov2013

Some of the many brands owned by IAC.

Financials

From April 22 2013 to April 17, 2014 stock prices of IAC (IACI) have risen 55.2% from $44.25 a share to $68.67 a share, proving IAC’s value to it’s investors. [8]

2013 Q4 statements show that revenue for IAC is down 5% from 765.3M in Q4 2012, to 724.5M.

IAC Head Quarters in NYC Photo courtesy of Vimeo on Flickr.

IAC Head Quarters in NYC Photo courtesy of Vimeo on Flickr.

IAC saw a 48% adjusted EPS growth from 0.7 in Q4 2012 to 1.04 in Q4 2013.

IAC also has enjoyed and increase in adjusted net income of 38% from 66.2 in Q4 2012 to 91.1 in Q4 2013.

Thus IAC has now entered its 19th consecutive quarter of double-digit operating income before amortization growth.

Financial Statements courtesy of IAC’s public quarterly report [9].

Media

Logo courtesy of IAC official Profile

Logo courtesy of IAC official Profile

      Vimeo is one of IAC’s hottest commodities and a worthy innovator in the realm of web video and user generated content. Vimeo currently has over 100 million unique monthly users and over 22 million register users which provide content. Vimeo is known to be the best video player “in the galaxy” which attracts some of the best independent filmmakers. Though Vimeo is within the media branch of IAC which accounts for a relatively small portion of revenue compared to ‘web search and applications’ or the Match group the media prospects of IAC prove to be some of the most innovative. [11]

      As edea.cameo_transparentof March 18 2014, Vimeo has acquired ‘Cameo‘ a video making app which the leaders at Vimeo say is going to be independently run much like the recent acquisition of Echograph about a year prior. This is very much inline with the philosophy of supporting new ideas which is so close to the core idealsCH-Logo-300x186_black of IAC. [10]
Another company in the Media branch is CollegeHumor which, thought it does not directly create a majority portion of IAC’s revenue, it has a huge impact in pop culture and the multimedia habits of the 18-14 demographic. It draws over 100 million monthly video views and the number 9 most subscribed to channel on youtube. [12]

Match

      The Match group of IAC is comprised of all the the websites and brands which deal Match_logo_300x186with dating and matching people together. Match.com being the primary website but also including many other brands. Meetic, the European leader in online dating, Chemistry.com, okcupid, and tinder. There are also some brands which specialize in helping advertisers find their audience.
Match.com recently made an exclusive MLBpartnership with Major League Baseball to further find matches based on team preferences. This joint effort can mean serious revenue for the Match group in future quarters. [13]
IAC in an effort to restructure some of the company for unknown reasons recognized Greg Blatt as the new Chairman of the newly created Match Group, on the Board of directors as of December 19 2013. This strategic moves serves as an indicator of the companies success in the Match department.

IAC thus far has proven to be a very innovative company which has harnessed the reach of its network to self facilitate more growth across company and brand lines. This innovative approach is reshaping not only pop-culture and the way we access media but the daily lives of the average person. IAC will continue to shape the way the internet does business and the way people interact. With projected financial statement the decrease in operating costs will lead to a great deal of profit in the following quarters which will more than likely prompt another large media acquisition given the highly increased capital which IAC now has.

Sources

[1] IAC Online Press Kit RET: 4/13/2014

[2] Official IAC Website– Bio Page on Barry Diller – Photo credit: Michele Asselin RET: 4/13/2014

[3] Official IAC Website– Bio Page on Jeff Kip RET: 4/13/2014

[4] Official IAC Website– Bio Page on Victor Kaufman RET: 4/13/2014

[5] Official IAC Website– Overview of Brands RET: 4/14/2014

[6] Official IAC Website– Timeline of company progress, acquisitions and sales RET: 4/15/2014

[7] CNN Money– IAC’s ranking as one of the world’s most admired companies by Fortune RET: 4/15/2014

[8] Google Finance– IAC share value from 4/22/13 – 4/17/14 RET: 4/15/14

[9] IAC public quarterly report– RET: 4/15/2013

[10] Re/Code– Article by Peter Kafka on the aquisition of Cameo by IAC’s media company Vimeo; published March 18 2014; RET: 4/11/2014

[11] Official IAC Website– Vimeo brand profile and overview RET: 4/13/14

[12] USA Today– Match.com partnership with MLB RET: 4/14/14

Activision/Blizzard

by Isaac Davis

Formed in 2008 with the merging of Activision and Vivendi Games, Activision Blizzard is the second-largest video game publisher in North America.

Board of Directors
Robert A. Kotick – President and CEO
Jean-Bernard Lévy – Chairman
Brian G. Kelly – Co-Chairman
Philippe G. H. Capron – Director
Robert J. Corti – Director
Frédéric R. Crépin – Director
Lucian Grainge – Director
Robert J. Morgado – Director
Stéphane Roussel – Director
Richard Sarnoff – Director
Régis Turrini – Director

Notable Franchises

  • Call of Duty
  • Guitar Hero
  • Tony Hawk
  • Skylanders
  • Spiderman
  • James Bond
  • Warcraft
  • Starcraft
  • Diablo

Business (January 2012 – May 2012)
Activision Blizzard’s past fiscal year was “better than expected,” earning $4.49 billion, as opposed to $4.48 billion in 2010. Their Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was the top-selling title of the year, with its accompanying Call of Duty Elite service hosting over 7 million registered users and 1.5 million paid subscribers. The new Skylanders toy line/children’s game proved quite successful, selling 20 million toys worldwide1.

World of Warcraft (WoW), however, declined from 11.1 million subscribers to 10.2 million this year, with at least some of the decline being attributed to competitor Electronic ArtsStar Wars: The Old Republic, which released in December 20112.

Following this news, WoW’s development studio, Blizzard Entertainment laid off 600 employees in an “organizational shift,” placing their current staff at around 5,000 worldwide3.

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick

In February, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick became a member of Coca-Cola’s board of directors. He had previously been a board member at Yahoo! from 2003 to 20084.

On March 5th, Activision hired Dennis Durkin, former VP and COO of Microsoft, as their new CFO5.

On April 5th, Worlds, Inc. filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard over the technology used in WoW and Call of Duty (CoD). Worlds holds patents on a “system and method for enabling users to interact in a virtual space”, and they had, in 2008, filed a lawsuit against NCSoft over their game City of Heroes, though it was dismissed in 20106.

Infinity Ward Controversy

After the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in 2009, Jason West and Vince Zampella, CEOs and co-founders of CoD development studio Infinity Ward, were fired under mysterious circumstances. Infinity Ward and all CoD IP has been owned by Activision since 2003. Activision claims they were fired over “breaches of contract and insubordination”7.

West and Zampella filed a lawsuit against Activision, leveling at least two fraud claims against them. The claims said that in firing them, Activision “fired them to avoid paying millions of dollars in royalties for [Modern Warfare 2]”. On March 5th 2012, one of these claims was dismissed by the California Superior Court. May 7th is the trial date for the remaining claims8.

On March 26th, Robert Bowling, creative strategist for the CoD series, suddenly left Activision after six years as the public face of the brand, with no indication of why he left or where he was headed9. On April 24th, he revealed that he is starting a new, independent development studio called Robotoki. Their first project is slated for “next-gen” consoles (that is, game systems yet to be announced)10.

Release Schedule (2012)
Prototype 2 (Radical Entertainment) – April 24 (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)
Diablo III (Blizzard Entertainment) – May 15 (PC, Mac OS X)
Battleship (Double Helix Games) – May 15 (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, 3DS, DS)
The Amazing Spider-Man (Beenox) – June 26 (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PS Vita 3DS, DS)
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD (Robomodo) – July (PS3, Xbox 360)
Transformers: Fall of Cybertron (High Moon Studios) – August 28 (PS3, Xbox 360)
Skylanders: Giants (Toys For Bob) – Fall (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, Wii U, PC 3DS, Mac OS X)
Call of Duty 9 [Working Title] (Treyarch) – Q4 (PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Wii U, PS Vita, 3DS)

Notes

  1. Curtis, Tom. “Activision Blizzard reports better than expected 2011 thanks to MW3, Skylanders”. Gamasutra.
  2. Rose, Mike. “Blizzard: Drop in WoW subs ‘attributable’ to Star Wars: The Old Republic”. Gamasutra.
  3. Caoili, Eric. “Blizzard cuts 600 employees in organizational shift”. Gamasutra.
  4. Curtis, Tom. “Activision CEO Bobby Kotick joins Coca-Cola’s board of directors”. Gamasutra.
  5. Hinkle, David. “Activision hires ex-Microsoft CFO Dennis Durkin”. Joystiq.
  6. Curtis, Tom. World of WarcraftCall of Duty accused of violating virtual worlds patent”. Gamasutra.
  7. Thorsen, Tor. “Top Infinity Ward devs fired for ‘insubordination,’ lawsuits ‘expected'”. Gamespot.
  8. Pettersson, Edvard. “Activision Wins Dismissal of One of Two Former Executives’ Fraud Claims”. Bloomberg.
  9. Navarro, Alex. “Robert Bowling Unexpectedly Announces He is Exiting Activision”. Giant Bomb.
  10. Reilly, Jim. “Robert Bowling Opens Game Studio”. Game Informer.

Picture Credits
http://www.videogameinvesting.com/?page_id=162
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2012/02/16/bobby-kotick-joins-coca-cola-39-s-board-of-directors.aspx
http://www.giantbomb.com/infinity-ward/65-1526/all-images/52-201193/infinityward_1_/51-186905/