IAC launches YouTube competitor Vimeo, IPO 2021 plans

Encouraged by rapid growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, YouTube competitor Vimeo is moving away from the IAC, the company announced on Tuesday, with the aim of going public during the second quarter of 2021. The decision to abandon Vimeo shares of IAC, the technology and media holding company founded by Barry Diller, rose 13.5% on Tuesday morning.

“It’s time for Vimeo to spread its wings and become a large independent public company,” IAC CEO Joey Levin said in a statement.

The video site, like several other streaming services during the pandemic, has seen its user base grow in recent months. Last month, Vimeo reported 200 million users, although the company did not specify whether they are weekly or monthly users and has gained 30 million new users in the last seven months. Vimeo is eliminated just one month after raising $ 150 million, at a valuation of $ 2.75 billion, from Thrive Capital and GIC.

From April to November, Vimeo’s revenues were at least 40% higher than the corresponding month of 2019, The Wall Street Journal reported. Overall, its Q3 revenue was $ 75.1 million.

Vimeo was launched in 2004 and has become a popular alternative to YouTube, allowing paying subscribers to customize their video player, create password protections, and generally develop platforms for use by teams and professionals rather than of individual consumers.

This has made the site particularly attractive to creators, according to The Verge, as they can charge viewers for rentals and content purchases. However, Vimeo has so far failed to reach the size, as it offers less content and its free plan has major restrictions.

As for the IAC, the rise in shares pushed its share price to $ 182.80 on Tuesday morning. This is also not the first rodeo of the holding company when it comes to the decline of companies and IPO, CNBC noting that Vimeo would be the 11th public company to exit the IAC. Match Group, Tinder’s parent company, recently completed its own spin-off at IAC, about five years after it went public.

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