NEW YORK — Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp lost $369.9 million in the fourth quarter on a big write-down at its mortgage-referral business, tax expenses and costs in anticipation of the proposed spinoff of four businesses.
The report Wednesday came as Diller and Liberty Media boss John Malone are battling for control of the Internet conglomerate whose assets include the HSN home-shopping network, , Ticketmaster, Citysearch, Evite and LendingTree.
Douglas County-based Liberty, a major IAC shareholder, has sued to halt the spinoffs.
Diller said the spinoffs, initially planned for the second or third quarter, could be delayed by a couple of months or more. Some analysts say the suits could derail the plan.
“At this point, we just don’t know,” Diller said about a possible delay.
The court has scheduled the matter for March 10.
New York-based IAC said its net loss amounted to $1.31 a share for the October-December period versus profit of $15.3 million, or 5 cents per share, in the same period in 2006.
Revenues rose 8 percent to $1.86 billion, from $1.72 billion a year ago.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had expected a profit of 55 cents per share on sales of $1.83 billion. Those predictions typically exclude one-time charges.
In November, Diller announced plans for IAC to spin off its HSN home-shopping network, Ticketmaster ticketing service, Interval time-share business and LendingTree mortgage-referral units.
Malone said the proposed spinoffs would dilute the voting power attached to his company’s shares.
