
After spending a decade convincing investors that throwing together Expedia, Match.com, Ticketmaster and eVite would make for a profitable Internet mega-company, Barry Diller must now do the opposite: Convince investors that separating all those brands into five different entities will make for five profitable Internet mini-companies. Yesterday, after a months-long battle with Liberty Media's John Malone to split up the company, Diller's IAC completed the chopping up of its West Side Highway headquarters — not literally; that's one glacier that won't melt — and siphoned off its properties into subgroups. And from anecdotal first whiff evidence, everyone approves: Home Shopping Network's stock closed up 21.3 percent; Interval Leisure Group rose 12.5 percent; Ticketmaster jumped 6.7 percent; IAC saw a 8.3 percent increase. Now there's just the question of what Diller will do with the $1.3 billion in cash he has on hand post-break up. Perhaps buy one tub of Bald Head Balm — and spend the rest creating another Internet mega company?

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