First-quarter profit at IAC/InterActiveCorp, the media and Internet company owned by Barry Diller, fell 32 percent to $47.2 million from $69 million the year before, according to a company statement today.
Earnings per share fell from 19 cents a share last year to 14 cents a share in first-quarter 2006, while revenue climbed 36 percent to $1.55 billion from $1.14 billion a year ago.
IAC’s services sector, which includes LendingTree and Ticketmaster, had an operating income of $68.5 million, up from $43.4 million a year ago, and revenue of $482.5 million, up from $380 million. The services sector also includes real estate, teleservices and home services.
“Lending revenue benefited from increased loan originations and sales into the secondary market, higher revenue per loan sold, higher transmit revenue due to growth in QF volume, and higher revenue from settlement services,” the company said in a statement.
Revenue from refinance mortgage and home equity loans grew from the prior-year period, the company said, while revenue from purchase loans grew at a more moderate pace and continued to decline as a percentage of overall lending revenue.
The company saw increased closed units in its lending services division, and lower closed units in its real estate services. The number of closed units in lending increased 4 percent to 67,000, or $8.1 million. The number of closed units in real estate fell 17 percent to 2,400, or $591,000.
InterActiveCorp’s holdings include home shopping, ticket, travel, lodging, dating, and mortgage and real estate-related businesses.
LendingTree is the anchor of IAC’s growing stable of financial service and real estate businesses, which include RealEstate.com, GetSmart.com and Domania, among others.
IAC stock (Nasdaq: IACI) was trading at $28.99 per share this morning, down from Monday’s closing price of $29.02.
