USA Interactive Loss Shrinks on Travel Units’ Sales

USA Interactive, the online commerce company headed by Barry Diller, said Thursday that its first-quarter loss narrowed as sales increased at its Expedia Inc. and Hotels.com Internet travel services. The stock rose 9.1%.

The net loss shrank to $112.1 million, or 23 cents a share, from $438.6 million, or $1.04, a year earlier. Revenue jumped 43% to $1.39 billion, USA said. It would have posted a quarterly profit except for an expense to write down the value of its investment in Vivendi Universal Entertainment.

USA Interactive owns controlling stakes in Expedia, the biggest online travel service, and Hotels.com, which sells room reservations over the Internet. More people are using the Web to book travel because the Internet makes it easier to research schedules and prices, investors said. Online sales are rising even as terrorism and severe acute respiratory syndrome discourage travel.

USA Interactive shares rose $2.73 to close at $32.68 on Nasdaq after earlier reaching a 52-week high of $33.42. The stock has risen 43% this year.

USA’s first-quarter loss included a $243.3-million expense to write down the value of its investment in Vivendi Universal Entertainment, a U.S.-based unit of Paris-based Vivendi Universal.

The unit owns the Universal film studio and theme parks and the USA and SciFi Channel cable-television networks.