Barry Diller banishes No. 2 back to real estate - Valleywag Comments

Barry Diller banishes No. 2 back to real estate

soiheard — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 11:04:49 PST

I couldn't agree more with Elvis2. At least LendingTree has built a brand, but the mortgage market is u-g-l-y. I wonder how long Lebda will stay, though...I heard that he is not necessarily relocating out of NYC - perhaps he will jump to a new venture after his new IPO options vest??

soiheard

Barry Diller banishes No. 2 back to real estate

iamelvis2 — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 20:12:29 PST

I worked at LendingTree prior to the IAC days - and must correct rainsoakedgeek - it was a public company prior to being acquired - but a somewhat struggling public company (they went public in Feb 2000, I believe). The general consensus was that Diller bought at the top of the market and overpaid - but the housing market had a few more good years in it - so all in all it was probably a break-even transaction. I don't think the Tree unit has generated cash internally in a year or two - so something tells me that they will be cash-strapped when they spin off.

Lebda is a good guy and I wish him luck - but he's going to be running a mortgage business in one of the worst mortgage environments we've seen in the last 50+ years. He seems like he thinks the cost-cutting at LendingTree is done - but I'd wager it's only just beginning...

iamelvis2

Barry Diller banishes No. 2 back to real estate

The_Age_of_Plastic — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 19:53:25 PST

Best succinct analysis of the company I have read (especially from an IAC alum). I think I am smitten.

The_Age_of_Plastic

Barry Diller banishes No. 2 back to real estate

rainsoakedgeek — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 13:25:36 PST

I worked with a lot of the IAC folks, including Doug, when I was at Expedia before IAC spun it off. There are some smart people there, but their smarts are chiefly in finance and M&A, as opposed to business strategy and operating tactics. (I always viewed IAC as a mutual fund with an HR department.)

Largely as a result, IAC never developed a coherent business strategy to make the whole greater than the sum of its parts. This wasn't Doug's fault -- there just isn't a lot to stitch together when your unifying theme is "interactivity" (whatever that is). Oh, and plus HSN. :-)

I can't imagine Doug was too happy about being head of IAC. Sure, it was a lofty title at a major company, but the operating companies called all the shots and formulated all business strategy, and besides, everyone knew Barry calls the shots on anything important.

At the end of the day, I think what gets Doug up in the morning is the opportunity to create a great business. And while what he's going to do next is on a much smaller scale, it'll be much easier to have a personal impact and to play a more direct role in doing so.

Lending Tree was not a public company when IAC bought it. They were profitable, but constrained in how quickly they could grow and enter new businesses. In contrast, the new company will be spun off (eventually) as a publicly-traded entity and IAC will ensure it's well-capitalized.

Being CEO of a publicly-traded, well-capitalized, highly-focused business with the opportunity to make a bigger impact with far more influence on strategy and operations? Sounds like a pretty good gig to me.

rainsoakedgeek