• Reuters, Tuesday, November 28, 2006 11:30 AM

Nine months after Google's entry, IAC/InterActiveCorp, the Web conglomerate owned by media mogul Barry Diller, is set to join the Standard & Poor's 500 Index after trading closes on Thursday. The S&P 500 is one of the major indices tracked by portfolio managers; it's rise and fall is often used to gauge the health of the economy.

IAC, with its stock share up 25% this year, has dozens of Web properties from a variety of e-business sectors, including retail (Ticketmaster.com), financial services (LendingTree.com), search (Citysearch.com and Ask.com) and online dating (Match.com). Its secret is pooling revenue from a bunch of different business that remain separate, which contrasts sharply with the integrate-everything approach used by Yahoo and AOL.

Barry Diller, the CEO of Web conglomerate IAC/InterActiveCorp., says the company's next move is to introduce a product that takes advantage of the migration of eyeballs from print to Internet-an under-exploited phenomenon that he says has a long way to go.

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