Diller, Lebda to part ways permanently

Owen Thomas — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 17:41:42 EST

Not only has Barry Diller exiled his former IAC No. 2, Doug Lebda, to LendingTree; he's officially washing his hands of Lebda's company. After he finishes splitting IAC into five parts, Diller plans to stay involved only with the new IAC and Ticketmaster, as well as Expedia, the online travel agent he spun off in 2005. A source close to Lebda believes he's just as glad to be through with Diller.

Barry Diller banishes No. 2 back to real estate

Owen Thomas — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 14:31:10 EST

Left in the wake of Barry Diller's acquisitive empire: a flotsam of discarded executives. Doug Lebda, IAC's president and COO since 2003, now joins them. According to an internal memo obtained by Valleywag, Lebda has been appointed CEO of IAC's mortgage and finance businesses, which are soon to be spun off. This can hardly be welcome news to Lebda, who's essentially returning to LendingTree, a business he founded in 1996 and sold to Diller in 2003. Here's the memo.

From: Barry Diller Sent: Monday, January 07, 2008 11:04 AM To: All IAC Subject: Doug Lebda to Lead IAC's Financial Services and Real Estate Businesses
Today IAC is announcing that Doug Lebda, IAC President and Chief Operating Officer, has been appointed Chairman and CEO of our Financial Services and Real Estate businesses, including LendingTree, HomeLoanCenter, GetSmart, RealEstate.com, Domania and iNest. A press release outlining the news, as well as details that we're not sharing externally - including the strategy behind these moves - can be found on our internal site, IAC Connect. Please visit IAC Connect and review the news.

Well, we'd love to hear more about those "details that we're not sharing externally." Anyone got them?

Gawker: valleywag, doug lebda

Diller, Lebda to part ways permanently

Barry Diller banishes No. 2 back to real estate