IAC Rebrands as People Inc. in Prep for SEO Doomsday
Billionaire Barry Diller formed IAC more than 20 years ago as a vehicle to build, grow, and profit off early internet platforms.
Sign up for smart news, insights, and analysis on the biggest financial stories of the day.
Media holding company IAC admitted to having a favorite child with an announcement that it will rename itself People Inc.
The IAC family tree currently has People Inc., formerly known as DotDash Meredith, beneath it and publications like People and Entertainment Weekly branching off of that. The name change reflects the company’s growing focus on its People biz, which will involve laying off 77 actual people, among other cost-cutting measures it expects will save around $40 million annually.
The overhaul represents the company’s attempt to adapt to an age in which people read results straight from ChatGPT instead of searching for news and clicking on an article.
Diller’s Not Dilly-Dallying
Billionaire Barry Diller formed IAC more than 20 years ago as a vehicle to build, grow and profit from early internet platforms. IAC has owned more than 200 companies and bought Meredith about five years ago for $2.7 billion (Dotdash was a separate deal). Having spun off companies like Expedia, HSN and Ticketmaster, it now has a 26% stake in MGM Resorts, which new People Inc. will spotlight as Diller bets search traffic will fall to zero:
- IAC is trying to bring in audiences from a variety of sources instead. Part of that strategy involves what Diller calls inversion, or turning its already popular brands into new products and services. Those then form a larger ecosystem that bounces audiences around within its walls.
- The company has also built its own AI ad-targeting tools as it tries to protect its publications from dwindling search traffic. The People division supplies more than 70% of its parent company’s revenue, and Diller is counting on audiences continuing to be drawn to the publication’s name cred.
Media Molting: Diller basically told NYT’s DealBook this isn’t his first rodeo and that he’s not winding down the company. Instead, he’s relying on a playbook that has worked in the past: “getting smaller to get bigger.” The company has slowed down its acquisition efforts since scooping up People and has actively spun off big businesses including Care.com and Angi. Diller hopes that smaller equals more agile and able to take advantage of opportunities in a rapidly AI-fying digital landscape.
