I wonder if iNET bought webhostingtalk.com and the other forums including http://www.freewebhostingtalk.com/ or did they own them first?

I believe it was originally owned by an individual (MattF?), then owned by RackShack, then bought by the original iNET a while back. I could be missing a few change of hands there, though.

I think you pretty much got it there. Matt sold it to RS who sold it to iNet.

Inet has owned properties much longer than they owned WHT. They also own some pretty decent other internet properties such as hotscripts but I forget the entire list of them. WHT was definitely not their first, as, by that time Marsh had already turned it into a (somewhat) profitable venture.