Advertisement

IAC profit beats as its dating websites attract more paid users

IAC/InterActiveCorp Chairman Barry Diller leaves the Allen and Co's annual media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho July 10, 2014. REUTERS/Rick Wilking

By Sai Sachin R

(Reuters) - IAC/InterActiveCorp reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit as subscription revenue rose from its dating websites and the company said user response to the paid version of its Tinder dating app was better than it had anticipated.

Shares of the company, whose chairman is media mogul Barry Diller, rose about 2 percent in extended trading on Tuesday.

IAC, which also owns video sharing service Vimeo and education service Princeton Review, said it launched 'Tinder Plus' in March.

"Payment and renewal rates (for Tinder) came in solidly against expectations," said Greg Blatt, the chairman of IAC's Match group, which includes websites such as Match.com and OurTime.com and also the Princeton Review.

"We think (Tinder) has reached unmatched global scale in terms of its user base," Barclays analyst Chris Merwin said, roughly estimating potential quarterly revenue of $10 million to $12 million from the app.

Revenue from IAC's dating websites rose 2 percent in the first quarter as the number of paid subscribers surged 16 percent.

Excluding the negative impact of a stronger dollar, dating revenue rose 8 percent, the company said.

IAC said it expected current-quarter dating revenue to rise in high single digit in percentage terms.

However, revenue from IAC's search and applications business, which includes Dictionary.com, Investopedia.com and Ask.com, fell 3.8 percent.

The business accounts for about half of IAC's total revenue.

IAC's net income attributable to shareholders fell 26.4 percent to $26.4 million, or 30 cents per share, in the quarter ended March 31.

Excluding items, the company earned 43 cents per share.

Revenue rose about 4 percent to $772.5 million.

Analysts on average had expected a profit of 35 cents per share and revenue of $772.3 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

IAC's shares were trading at $72.80 after the bell.

(This version of the story adds details on Tinder app and analyst comment)

(Editing by Kirti Pandey)