Industry Moves: Peter Horan Goes To IAC

Peter Horan, who was the About.com CEO until its acquisition by the New York Times and then moved west to head up small business portal AllBusiness.com, has now been appointed CEO of IAC Media & Advertising.

According to the company, “The CEOs of the Media & Advertising businesses will now report to Mr. Horan, including Jim Lanzone of Ask.com, Briggs Ferguson of Citysearch, Richard Stalzer of IAC Advertising Solutions, and Scott Garell of IAC Consumer Applications and Portals.”

I’ve met and talked with Horan who’s a very smart and personable guy. But beyond this his appointment suggests a kind of rationalization (I mean it in a good way) of IAC’s structure and thinking about its properties. The company has always been taunted by financial analysts for failing to connect the dots among them. The Ask acquisition was (and is internally) expected to help do that.

I’ve also had renewed contact with IAC lately and it appears there are some more aggressive moves and thinking coming this year.