USA Interactive to Buy LendingTree

Barry Diller’s USA Interactive, expanding the range of goods and services it sells on the Internet, agreed to purchase LendingTree Inc. for $734 million in stock.

Shareholders of LendingTree, a Web-based loan service, will receive 0.6199 of a share of USA common stock for each share of LendingTree common stock they own, the companies said. LendingTree shares rose as much as 45%.

USA Interactive’s businesses also include home shopping TV network HSN and concert and sports-ticket retailer Ticketmaster.

Shares of USA Interactive fell 86 cents to $34.10 and shares of LendingTree rose $6.03 to $20.72, both on Nasdaq.