Barry Diller of IAC is set to reap great rewards from his 15-year tech seed-and-harvest strategy of taking Vimeo public by June 2021. Back in 2004, omnipotent visionary Diller, 78, knew he was on to a good thing when he made inroads with Rochester Institute of Technology students Jake Lodwick, now 39, from Baltimore, and 38 year-old Zach Klein from Rochester, NY.

Back then, Vimeo was a side project for the small team at Connected Ventures, who were focused on sharing site CollegeHumor.com. Four years on from Millennium Bug Y2K losses, investors were also counting the cost of the dot.com crash and many didn’t have the stomach for new tech – never mind mobile video. IAC purchased a majority stake in Connected Ventures for over $20 million in 2006 and eventually the founders stepped back.

Now in 2020, Vimeo has a $2.75 billion valuation and IAC has had ten successful spins under its belt, and The Edge believes Vimeo with its 41% growth in revenue from 2019 is set for a stellar 2021.

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