Former Hollywood and TV mogul Barry Diller, these days Mister Big in the global internet Klondyke, is to buy Cornerstone Brands for $720 million (€545.9m; £374.9m).
Cornerstone, a US-based portfolio of leading print catalogs and online retailing sites that sell home products and leisure/casual apparel, will be absorbed into Diller's management vehicle, InterActiveCorp.
Thomas J McInerney, who combines his evp and cfo chores at IAC with the chief executive's role at IAC Electronic Retailing, is responsible for the melding of the Cornerstone assets into his fiefdom.
Says McInerney: This [deal] enables us to immediately and significantly increase our position as one of the world's leading interactive retailers by expanding our presence across the multiple channels of catalog, TV, and online.
"We expect this transaction to be accretive to our earnings, and to drive continued organic growth, and provide a platform for add-on investments."
Among the bigger names in IAC's existing brand portfolio are Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Hotwire, Home Shopping Network, Ticketmaster and ReserveAmerica.
The glittering array will be joined by Cornerstone catalog and web products such as Frontgate, Ballard Designs, Garnet Hill, Smith and Noble, The Territory Ahead and TravelSmith.
Data sourced from Financial Times and IAC website; additional content by WARC staff
