Asset Sale Helps Earnings Surge at IAC

IAC/InterActiveCorp, the television and Internet services company owned by Barry Diller, said second-quarter profit rose almost ninefold on the sale of entertainment assets and revenue gains at the LendingTree.com mortgage unit and HSN home-shopping network.

Net income jumped to $618.1 million, or 89 cents a share, from $69.9 million, or 9 cents, a year earlier. Sales topped analysts’ estimates, climbing 34% to $1.96 billion, New York-based IAC said.

Earnings excluding costs rose to 30 cents a share, beating the 25-cent average estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

Shares of IAC fell 36 cents to $26.41.