InterActive Gets Into R&D

BW caught it…out of the news that InterActive Corp bought out social network site ZeroDegrees, is a small but significant detail: Diller has formed a department called InterActive Development to incubate new ventures. (That’ll mean two things: more acquisitions and maybe strategic venture investments) ZeroDegrees will operate independently of Diller’s other businesses.

So initial synergies will be minimal — though Denis Pombriant, managing principal in tech-research firm Beagle Research Group, says the technology could be adapted to support InterActive’s travel businesses.

Diller could make other forays into the social-networking area, says Dan Marriott, an InterActive senior VP and head of the new-business unit. He says the company is looking at other dating and social-connection sites, and might make an acquisition if the business can be tied to a classified advertising model, as San Francisco-based Tribe Networks is attempting.

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