LendingTree CEO Doug Lebda died Sunday in an all-terrain vehicle accident, the Charlotte-based company said in a release
“The board of directors and the entire LendingTree management team deeply mourns his passing and extends sincere and heartfelt condolences to his family,” the release added.
Scott Peyree, LendingTree’s president and chief operating officer, was appointed president and CEO, effective immediately. Lead independent director Steve Ozonian, who joined the board in 2008, was named board chairman.
Lebda was considered one of Charlotte’s leading executives and was a major supporter of entrepreneurial ventures. He also helped establish a foundation that has supported many causes.
Founded as Lewisburg Ventures with $3,000 in 1996 by Doug Lebda, Tara Garrity, and Jamey Bennet, the company became CreditSource and then LendingTree. Lebda, who grew up in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, dropped out of the University of Virginia’s MBA program to build the company. It went public in February 2000, a year best remembered for the dot-com crash.
He has retained a major ownership stake through various turns in the company’s fortunes.
In 2003, three years after the IPO, media executive Barry Diller’s IAC bought LendingTree for $725 million, or about four times revenue. It wasn’t Dlller’s finest deal. The financial crisis in 2007-2009 swamped the mortgage market, and IAC wrote off $475 million related to the acquisition.
IAC spun off the company in 2008, with Lebda remaining at the helm. Adjusted operating earnings soared from $19 million in 2013 to $154 million in 2018, helping make LendingTree one of the hottest U.S. stocks during that period. Its market value was about $5 billion in 2019, as investors hoped it could replicate its success in mortgages in other financial services markets.
But the growth cooled off and the company’s shares tumbled. Lending Tree has a market value of about $750 million. Shares have traded between $33.50 and $77 in the past year, and closed Monday at $54.68.
Lebda is survived by his wife, Megan, and three daughters.
David Mildenberg is editor of Business North Carolina. Reach him at dmildenberg@businessnc.com.