Demand Media moves to separate its domain business

(Reuters) - Demand Media moved on Monday to spin off its Rightside Group domain business as a separately traded company, according to filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Demand Media, which owns websites eHow, LiveStrong and Cracked and mainly makes money from articles and videos that surface high in search results, previously said it planned to spin out its domain unit in February 2013.

Demand Media shareholders will receive shares of Rightside Group, although the filing did not offer specifics of the distribution.

In addition, Demand Media plans to ask its stakeholders to approve a reverse stock split during a special meeting, the filing said.

The Rightside Group filing puts to an end questions about the timing of the separation, which had been in flux after the abrupt exit of co-founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Richard Rosenblatt in October. The company said a search for a CEO was its top priority.

Another Demand co-founder, Shawn Colo, has become interim

CEO.

Colo said in a statement that the filing marked "another key milestone for the planned separation and spinoff in 2014."

The registrar business, which maintains top-level generic Web domain names like ".actor" and ".social," reported an 11 percent rise in third-quarter revenue to $37.7 million.

(Reporting by Jennifer Saba in New York; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)