Internet Brands IPO May Mark Return to Normalcy

Internet Brands is Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp writ small -- a collection of online brands specializing in specific needs and services. But while Diller is making plans to break up IAC into a group of more focused and distinct brands, Internet Brands is intent on keeping its family together under the roof of a single public company.

Unlike a lot of Internet portals and giants, the sites operated by Internet Brands aren't a stew of far-flung properties, but focused on e-commerce, classifieds and online communities. And most are grouped in targeted topics: automobiles, travel and homeownership. Some of the sites include CarsDirect.com, MustangForums.com, BBOnline.com, WikiTravel.org and DoitYourself.com.

Few of these sites are likely to show up on a Top 100 sites list by themselves. But as a group they have provided Internet Brands with steady and impressive growth.

Between 2004 and 2006, the company's revenue grew to $84.8 million from $61.1 million, while its profit expanded to $38.8 million from $2.9 million.

Normally, this kind of financial performance would cause an IPO to be greeted with open arms, but as is often the case, there's a catch -- and it came this year.

For the first nine months of 2007, revenue totaled $65 million, down 0.3% from the same period in 2006, largely because of a slowdown in advertising by automobile clients. "The automotive industry has generally been in a downward cycle beginning in the second half of 2006," the company said in its prospectus.