SEC Company Response from Match Group, Inc. (MTCH) (CIK 0000891103) (MTCH) — Jun 2, 2005
Match Group, Inc. (MTCH) (CIK 0000891103)
Date: June 2, 2005 · CIK: 0000891103 · Accession: 0001047469-05-016369
AI Filing Summary & Sentiment
File numbers found in text: 333-124303, 333-124340
Referenced dates: May 26, 2005
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CORRESP 1 filename1.htm [Letterhead of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz] June 2, 2005 Via EDGAR, Facsimile and Electronic Mail Susan C. Block Division of Corporation Finance Securities and Exchange Commission 450 Fifth Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20549-0303 RE: IAC/InterActiveCorp Form S-4 filed on April 26, 2005 File No. 333-124340 Dear Ms. Block: On behalf of our client, IAC/InterActiveCorp (the “Company” or “IAC”), set forth below are responses to the comments of the Staff of the Division of Corporation Finance (the “Staff”), which were delivered in a letter dated May 26, 2005, in connection with the above-referenced Registration Statement on Form S-4 (the “Registration Statement”), filed by IAC with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) on April 26, 2005, and relating to the merger of Ask Jeeves, Inc. (“Ask Jeeves”) into a wholly owned subsidiary of IAC. For your convenience, in this letter the text of the Staff’s comments is set forth in bold text followed by the responses of the Company. IAC is also filing today Amendment No. 1 to the Registration Statement (the “Amended Registration Statement”), which is responsive to comments of the Staff as set forth below. General 1. Comment: Please revise as necessary your filing on Form S-4 (file no. 333-124303) filed April 25, 2005, to conform to the following comments. Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, IAC and Expedia will revise the disclosure in the joint Registration Statement on Form S-4 of IAC and Expedia, Inc. to the extent necessary to conform to the Staff’s comments. Cover Page 2. Comment: Please include on the cover page the amount of securities being registered. See Item 501(b)(2) of Regulation S-K. Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, the disclosure has been revised on the cover page. 3. Comment: Please provide IAC/InterActiveCorp’s trading price as of the most recent practical date. Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, the disclosure has been revised on the cover page. 4. Comment: Please name the market for IAC/InterActiveCorp’s common stock and the trading symbol for those securities. See Item 501(b)(4) of Regulation S-K. Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, the disclosure has been revised on the cover page. Important 5. Comment: Specify the date by which security holders must request this information. You must highlight this statement by print type or otherwise. See Item 2 of Form S-4. Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, the disclosure has been revised in the above-mentioned section. 2 Questions and Answers about the Merger, page 1 6. Comment: Please disclose here the value of the exchange in terms of price per share that the exchange ratio will yield to Ask Jeeves shareholders and what premium that represents. Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, the disclosure has been revised on page 1. The Merger, page 5 7. Comment: Please clarify what is meant by IAC expects to issue approximately 74.8 million shares and approximately 88 million on a fully diluted treasury method basis. Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, the disclosure has been revised on page 6. Interests of Certain Persons in the Merger, page 6 8. Comment: Please quantify the aggregate amount of money that will be paid to directors and executive officers in the merger. Also, clarify here, if true, that there may be continuing employment opportunities for executive officers in the new enterprise after the merger and disclose the incentives to be paid to those executives. Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, the disclosure has been revised on page 7. Recent Developments, page 20 9. Comment: Please describe the acquisition amount and type of consideration used to acquire Cornerstone Brands, Inc. Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, the disclosure has been revised on page 22. Risk Factors, page 21 10. Comment: Please note that the information may be incorporated by reference into the proxy statement only as permitted by items in Form S-4. It appears that you are not eligible to incorporate by reference under Item 3 of Form S-4. Please revise to include the information required by this Item, or provide us with your analysis as to why you believe you can incorporate by reference. Also, please provide here the risk factors that you refer to in Appendix E, as necessary. 3 Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, the disclosure has been revised on pages 23 and 29-39. IAC is controlled by Mr. Diller…, page 24 11. Comment: Please describe the voting arrangement in more detail, including the number and percentage of shares and voting power held by the various parties. Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, the disclosure has been revised on pages 26 and 27. Solicitation of Proxies, page 30 12. Comment: We note that proxies may be solicited by mail, telephone or internet. Confirm that you will file all written soliciting materials, including any scripts to be used in soliciting proxies by personal interview or telephone. Response: Ask Jeeves has advised the Company that it confirms that it will file all written soliciting materials, including scripts, with the Commission to the extent required by the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the rules promulgated thereunder. The Merger, page 31 13. Comment: We note your disclosure at the December 3, 2004 meeting the board discussed reviewing strategic alternatives. Please revise to disclose any alternatives you considered. Also revise to expand upon any alternative transactions discussed with the three alternate parties. Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, the disclosure has been revised on page 44 of the Amended Registration Statement to clarify that no specific alternatives were considered by the Ask Jeeves Board of Directors at its December 3, 2004 meeting. In addition, the disclosure has been revised where applicable to expand the discussion of alternate transactions to the extent discussed with the three alternate parties. See the revised disclosure on pages 46 through 50 of the Amended Registration Statement. 14. Comment: Generally, revise this section to provide more complete description of the matters discussed and conclusions reached at Ask Jeeves’ board meetings. Three examples, among several, of areas which should be expanded are (i) with regard to the January 27 special meeting discussing potential strategic transactions with the first, second and third alternate parties—what conclusions were reached with respect to these parties; (ii) with regard to the February 24 special meeting where Allen & Company updated the board on the status of discussions with IAC and the likelihood of receiving a firm offer in the near future—what was the status and what was the 4 likelihood; and (iii) with regard to the March 15 alternate cash and stock structure proposed by Mr. Kaufman—what was the proposal and why was it less desirable? Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, the disclosure has been revised on pages 46-49. 15. Comment: Please describe what occurred with respect to the second and third alternate parties’ interest in Ask Jeeves between March 17 when the second alternate party contacted Allen & Company to express its interest in a transaction and the March 18 decision to accept IAC’s offer. Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, the disclosure has been revised on page 50. 16. Comment: Please state clearly, if true, that the offer from IAC is the highest offer you received. If not, disclose the higher offer and explain in detail why it was not accepted. Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, the disclosure has been revised on page 50 to clarify that the IAC offer was the only formal offer that Ask Jeeves received. Recommendation of the Ask Jeeves Board of Directors, page 36 17. Comment: It is not clear from the presentation whether the board conducted financial analysis or merely relied on the fairness opinions provided by Allen & Company and Citigroup. Please clarify. Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, the disclosure has been revised on page 53. 18. Comment: Please revise to include the “additional factors” listed on page 37 in one of two lists. One of the lists should be factors that favor the merger and the other factors that do not favor the merger. Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, the disclosure has been revised on pages 52-54. 19. Comment: In this regard, the factors supporting or not supporting the merger must be explained in enough detail for investors to understand. Conclusory statements or listing of generalized areas of consideration, such as “historical information concerning the respective businesses” and “current financial market conditions” should be expanded upon to explain how they were taken into account for this transaction. You will need to revise this section to explain how each of the factors listed support or do not support the decision to approve the merger. 5 Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, the disclosure has been revised on pages 52-54. Opinions of Ask Jeeves’ Financial Advisors, page 39 20. Comment: Please disclose why the board chose to hire two financial advisors. Also, disclose the amounts known or estimated to be received by Allen & Company and Citigroup and their affiliates for services rendered to the Company for the previous two years. See Item 1015(b) of Regulation M-A. Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, the disclosure has been revised on page [•]. 21. Comment: Please supplementally send us a copy of the board book and any other materials prepared by Allen & Company and Citigroup to assist the board in evaluating the transaction. Also, provide us with a copy of the engagement letters. Response: Ask Jeeves has informed the Company that Allen & Company and Citigroup will be sending to the Staff under separate cover copies of their respective engagement letters and Board Books that were delivered to the Ask Jeeves board of directors. 22. Comment: To the extent Allen & Company and Citigroup relied on management projections in their analyses, these projections should be disclosed in this filing. Response: Ask Jeeves has informed the Company that although in the course of their respective due diligence each of Allen & Company and Citigroup reviewed certain Ask Jeeves’ projections, Ask Jeeves has been advised by Allen & Company and Citigroup that neither relied upon any of such projections in its analysis. Opinion of Allen & Company LLC, page 39 23. Comment: Please describe the relationships, discussed on page 40, between Allen & Company and IAC and Ask Jeeves and the potential conflicts of interest arising from these relationships in the risk factors section. Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, the disclosure has been revised on page 62. 24. Comment: Please revise the discussion of the various analyses used by Allen & Company so that recipients of the proxy statement/prospectus can understand exactly what each analysis indicates. What are they used to show? We offer some additional guidance in the comments below. As a general matter, for each analysis, please provide sufficient explanation of each step of the analysis and its conclusion such that 6 an investors will understand how this analysis supports a conclusion that the transaction is fair. Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, the disclosure has been revised. See page 56 through 61 (with respect to the opinion of Allen & Company) and pages 62 through 73 (with respect to the opinion of Citigroup). 25. Comment: Also, for each analysis, indicate what observations or conclusions the Ask Jeeves board reached with respect to the information that these calculations provide. Response: Ask Jeeves has informed the Company that its board of directors did not make any specific observations or reach any specific conclusions with respect to any of the individual analyses presented by their financial advisors, but rather the board of directors reviewed and digested the analyses in their totality in reaching the board’s conclusions with respect to the advisability of the merger. The disclosure has been revised on page 54 to reflect the foregoing. Analysis of Historical Trading Activity, page 40 26. Comment: To assist an investors understanding of the Historical Trading Analysis, please revise to use a graphical or tabular format. Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, the disclosure has been revised on page 56. Analysis of IAC Based on its Business Segments, page 41 27. Comment: Please clarify what OIBA refers to in the first column. Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, the disclosure has been revised on page 57. Analysis of Premium Paid in Comparable Merger Transactions, page 42 28. Comment: When you speak of an implied premium that the instant exchange ratio represents to comparable merger transactions, disclose the price implied by this exchange ratio. Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, the disclosure has been revised on page 58. 7 Analysis of Premium Reflected in the Exchange Ratio, page 42 29. Comment: If Allen & Company calculated the premium of the merger consideration in comparison to additional average closing prices besides the 30 day trailing average (for instance, 90 day and 180 day trailing averages), please disclose these figures also. Response: Ask Jeeves has informed the Company that neither Allen & Company nor Citigroup compared the premium of the merger consideration to the average closing prices for any other or longer period of time than the 30 day trailing average. 30. Comment: Include a textual discussion explaining the point of the graphs on page 43. In particular, describe how the instant transaction compares to others included in the survey. Also, explain what you mean by the statement that the instant exchange ratio indicates a premium “within the range of premiums paid in the comparable merger transactions”—it appears that this transaction falls at the lower end of each of the ranges provided. Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, the disclosure has been revised. See pages 58 through 59 (with respect to the opinion of Allen & Company) and pages 69 through 71 (with respect to the opinion of Citigroup). Analysis of Selected Comparable Merger Transactions…, page 44 31. Comment: Describe the criteria used to select comparable companies. Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, the disclosure has been revised. See page 61 (with respect to the opinion of Allen & Company) and page 66 (with respect to the opinion of Citigroup). 32. Comment: Discuss the results of Allen & Company’s comparable transaction analysis. For instance, how does this transaction compare to the low, mean and high. Response