IAC approves plan to spin off company once known as Angie’s List

IAC Inc., the New York City-based media conglomerate that acquired Indianapolis-based Angie’s List in 2017, says it is spinning off its entire ownership stake of that company to IAC’s shareholders.

The transaction would give IAC’s shareholders direct ownership of the company that now does business as Angi Inc. and would result in Angi becoming a fully independent company, IAC announced late Monday.

“As a fully independent company, Angi will benefit from a more attractive equity currency to accelerate growth, whether through M&A, capital formation or talent acquisition, undiluted focus on its specific operating and strategic priorities, and streamlined decision-making,” IAC said in a written statement.

Pending final approval from its board of directors, IAC said it expects the transaction to close in the first half of the year, but no earlier than March 31. The exact number or ratio of Angi shares that IAC shareholders will receive was to be determined.

Share prices for both IAC and Angi rose Monday after IAC’s announcement. IAC’s stock increased to $43.50 per share in after-hours trading, up 4.8% from Monday’s closing price. Shares of Angi rose 9.6%, to $1.71 per share.

The news was not unexpected. In a letter to shareholders in November, IAC CEO Joey Levin said IAC was exploring whether to spin off its 85% ownership in Angi to IAC shareholders.

“Angi’s economic foundation continues to strengthen, and we suspect that Angi’s best shot at realizing that upside to the benefit of our shareholders may be as a standalone company,” Levin wrote in that letter.

In connection with the spinoff, Levin will step down as IAC’s CEO and will lead Angi in partnership with Angi’s existing CEO, Jeff Kip, IAC said.

Angie’s List began in 1995 when it purchased locally based Unified Neighbors, which offered neighbor-generated reviews of home-service providers. The company went public in 2011.

IAC acquired Angie’s List in 2017, combining it with Denver-based HomeAdvisor. The combined company was originally called ANGI Homeservices but changed its name to Angi Inc. in 2021. The company is based in Colorado but maintains a presence in Indianapolis.

There’s no indication at this point that the spinoff would bring Angi’s headquarters to Indianapolis.

“Angi is headquartered in Denver with no plans to relocate at this time and we continue to maintain key hubs in Indianapolis and New York,” Angi spokesperson Emily Do told IBJ via email in November.

According to Angi’s most recently filed annual report, the company had a total of 3,800 employees at the end of 2023. Do declined to say how many Angi employees are based in Indianapolis, saying that the company does not disclose its employee count by region.

Reached Monday, Do said the company’s stance on the matter has not changed since then.

At its peak in Indianapolis in 2014, Angie’s List had nearly 2,000 employees in the city. That count was down to fewer than 1,800 when Angie’s List was acquired in 2017. The company still operated four Indianapolis offices with more than 1,000 employees as of mid-2019.

This is not the first time IAC has talked about doing an Angi spinoff. In 2019, the company announced it was considering spinning off both Angi and Match Group, a company that operates online dating sites such as Match, Tinder and OkCupid. The Match spinoff happened in 2020, but IAC did not go through with the Angi spinoff at that time.

IAC has a history of growing companies and then spinning them off. IAC’s other spinoffs include  the online travel site Expedia, HSN TV, Ticketmaster and LendingTree, among others. Angi would represent IAC’s 10^th such transaction.

IAC’s current holdings include Dotdash Meredith, a media company with numerous online and print publications that include People, Better Homes & Gardens and Travel + Leisure, among others. IAC also owns the news outlet The Daily Beast; Care.com, an online marketplace that links families with caregivers and home service providers; and several other companies.