March 16, 2005
Barry Diller Seeks To Shed ZeroDegrees Social Networking

A beloved mole tells the a:c that Diller's InterActive Corp. has found a buyer to take the failing ZeroDegrees social networking service off its hands. InterActive acquired ZeroDegrees in March 2004 for an undisclosed sum. Since then, the company has struggled to find footing - it's an online community without a community of visitors. ZeroDegrees sought to differentiate itself from the crowd by private-labeling its social networking environment, but a look at Diller's other sites shows that ZeroDegrees failed to even private-label within the family.

Shedding this company is a smart move for InterActive. Most of the company's properties are purebreds - ZeroDegrees is a stillborn mutt. We imagine some overly eager MBA at InterActive is paying a dear price for the decision to get ZeroDegrees in the first place.