Has Barry Diller been faking it all along?

“He has a vision, and he’s not quite sure what it is, you know. And then he kind of fakes it until he makes it.” -Diane von Furstenberg, Barry Diller’s wife and IAC board member By SDH The battle is in full swing between IAC/Interactive Corp CEO Barry Diller and majority shareholder John Malone. The latest back and forth may have tipped in Diller's favor, but things from the past may come back to bite him where the sun doesn't shine. Diller's fashion designer wife and IAC board member,” Diane von Furstenberg during a "60 Minutes" interview sort of painted her husband as a winger and/or a pretender by saying he “Fakes it till he makes it". Statements like these can probably serve up a huge blow to Diller who is fighting for dear life to hold on to the maze of companies known as IAC/Interactive Corp. So has Barry been faking it? According to many analysts he isn’t an effective CEO. Diller’s decision to split up the company in 5 stand alone companies is seen by some as the result of something that was built up so fast, it got out of hand. One of Diller’s biggest acquisitions Ask.com which originally had delusional episodes of taking on search giant Google, recently announced that it is changing its focus from Google and will transform itself into a search engine locked in on married Southern and Mid Western women. Is this the result of another fake it till you make it approach that failed? The coming weeks will decide Barry Diller’s legacy. Will he be remembered as a builder of businesses for other media CEOs or will he be remembered as that, and a builder and ruler of his own empire? If John Malone wins, he (Barry Diller) will be remembered as the man who built a major internet company only to find out he wasn’t the boss all along.

Even Barry Diller thinks he may be out of a job in the coming weeks

BY SDH Barry Diller can't seem to catch a break at all. Ever since the man has been in the media and entertainment business he has worked for someone. When he set up his internet holding company first as USA Interactive and then later on as IAC/Interactive Corp, we all thought this was finally Barry's turn to be the boss. But as it turns out, Diller was really never the boss at IAC. The real boss was and is John Malone who is in the middle of shaking up IAC until Barry Diller falls out. It all started when Diller said he was going to split the company into 5, which Malone said will cut his power drastically. So now Malone is trying to get back his super voting shares from Diller and its looking like he will prevail. Even Barry Diller feels it. During a recent panel hosted by Zelnick Media and Variety, Diller had a defeated tone when asked about the battle between him and John Malone. But Diller shouldn’t worry because he has to remember that he may have the track record of always being pushed out of companies he built, but he also has a track record of making comebacks. If Diller does indeed get the boot from atop IAC he can take a page out of former Disney CEO Mike Eisner's book and slowly build a small online media company with content that can be spun into other areas. Or he can join forces with Eisner and target start-ups. But maybe Malone is a nice guy and will let him take one of IAC’s businesses.

Just Wondering: With all that’s going on, will Barry Diller's planned website for black people still fly?

BY SDH Last April IAC/Interactive Corp, made the announcement that they were working on a website geared towards African Americans. A name was never revealed or even a tentative launch time. However since the announcement we haven't seen or heard anything related to the project. IAC CEO Barry Diller has since been tangled in a back and forth with IAC shareholder and some say his boss John Malone about the direction of the company. The battle may even see Diller exiting if John Malone gets his way. But what’s the deal with the black web project. Was it quietly scrapped getting lost in the shuffle of the ongoing battle between Diller and Malone, or is it still on track for a launch?

Barry Diller's legacy in shambles?

-SDH Poor Barry Diller, the man only wants to be his own boss and call his own shots and be his own enemy, but as far back as even Barry can remember he has never been any of the above. In a New York Post article this morning, Barry Diller is said to have a chip on his shoulder about his legacy, can you blame him? Since his start in the media business, Barry Diller has been an underling who had to answer to someone. It is due to this fact that he never stuck around at any of the companies he helped build into the powerhouses they are today. He worked for the who is who in media like Rupert Murdoch, Brian Roberts and Marvin Davis. Will poor Barry lose yet another battle and see his dreams of being his own boss, running his own company, go down the drain for good? If John Malone, IAC/Interactive's big dog shareholder has his way, Barry's Legacy will probably be about his fight to leave a respectable legacy. "This is essentially a redux version of most of Barry's career," said a source close to both men. "Just when he thinks he's reached a place where he can gain control all for himself, someone comes along to remind him that regardless of how far he drives the car, it's still Daddy's car to begin with." CHILLER DILLER [NYP]

Operation Regime Change

BY SDH Barry Diller built IAC Interactive Corp via acquisitions of profitable web properties bringing them under one roof to form his internet holding company which is home to well know web destinations like, Expedia.com, Match.com and more recently collegehumor.com. But if you ask us, Diller may have just been put on notice by Liberty Media boss John Malone who holds a reported 30% stake. During an interview late last year, Malone said that he no longer thinks Diller brings value to the company. Now Malone is acting on this statement by trying to kill the Diller era. In a bold but expected move, Malone asked a court for the go ahead to force Diller out, and perhaps hand the CEO title to a younger more energetic fresh thinker from within or outside the company who will perhaps bring that value Malone claims Diller lacks? Diller has to be feeling the Neuse tightening around his neck. Clearly Malone and company are congregating on IAC’s borders for a full scale attack with the objective of regime change at IAC. But will Malone’s potential invasion be unilateral or will he bring others on board? Malone is not known for raiding corporations and forcing change like the Suge Knight of corporate America Carl Icahn. But he carries more weight than many of the CEOs of the companies he holds shares in. When Malone upped his stake in IAC, Liberty Media claimed at the time, they upped their stake in IAC to take advantage of IAC’s low stock price. But only an idiot would buy that. If Barry Diller were to look out his office window through binoculars, he will see Malone and his troops looking right back at him through their binoculars just waiting for the right time to take the kill shot. Rupert Murdoch came out alive from a possible Malone attack, will the same happen for Diller?

John Malone takes bigger chunk of Barry Diller's world

-BY SDH One of the most powerful men in media, John Malone is hardly written about and gawked at by mainstream media, but we doubt he gives a shit. He is arguably the most powerful known unknown in the biz and has the power to make even the biggest of them run for cover like the time he had Rupert Murdoch shaking in his pants. Now Malone's Liberty Media holding company has swallowed 14 million shares of the Barry Diller ruled IAC/Interactive Corp for $339.5 Million upping Liberty's stake to about 30%. Could Malone have taken a bigger chunk if he wanted, or does Diller have some Rupert Murdoch like, poison pill in place to block such a move? Stake Is Bought in IAC/InterActiveCorp [NYT]

John Malone, Ticket Master?

-YOSH John Malone is is probably the most under rated when it comes to the power he holds in the media business. He has made other powerful media bigs like Rupert Murdoch run for cover. Now he is said to be interested in Barry Diller's TicketMaster.com. And why wouldn't he be? The site reportedly sold over $7 billion in tickets last year. However that number may drop when Live Nation, the biggest concert promoter, drops Ticketmaster.com in favor of it's own ticket sales system. Liberty CEO Gregory Maffei says his company has been unable to swing a deal for Home Shopping Network—which Liberty would like to merge with its QVC discount shopping business—because IAC has set the price too high. At the 35th annual UBS Global Media & Communications Conference in New York on Dec. 3, Maffei mused that Liberty may now focus on Ticketmaster, the dominant name in ticket sales. Maffei said Ticketmaster "has a great business" that would mesh well with Liberty's entertainment assets, which will expand substantially in the coming weeks if Malone's deal to buy the DirecTV (DTV) satellite service wins federal regulatory approval as expected. John Malone Eyes Ticketmaster [BW]

John Malone is what you would call a cock blocker, but he isn't necessarily blocking cocks

-MARTY It seems like every time a media company wants to make a move, they have to go through John Malone first. Rupert Murdoch had to throw him a bone to hold him off from attempting a takeover of News Corp, now Barry Diller, Chairman of Internet company Interactive Corp (IAC) will have to throw him a thick piece of stake to distract him so he can split IAC into five publicly traded companies. We will call him "The Media Sheriff" It looked like a master stroke. IAC Interactive (IACI) Chief Executive Barry Diller announced that his collection of Internet companies will be separated into five public companies. Diller, long a Wall Street darling, hopes to use the deal to restore some of the luster lost by his business in a year of sliding shares. The tactic appeared to be working. IAC's stock price jumped 7.5%. But the announcement is only the first step in what could be a messy, protracted battle with IAC's largest shareholder, John Malone's Liberty Media (LCAPA), owner of a 24.1% stake. Under the terms of a long-standing arrangement with Malone, Diller controls and votes Liberty Media's shares in any deal. Still, in order to see the breakup through to its fruition, Diller will probably need to offer some concessions to Malone, the Liberty chairman who has publicly suggested he wants out of the arrangement. In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Malone dissed Diller, saying, "There was time when there was, I think, a 20% Barry premium" on Wall Street. He added: "Today you could argue there is a Barry discount." The upshot is Malone and Diller will probably have some serious talks in coming weeks before Diller can finalize his plans, several sources say. We don't know but it seems as though John Malone may be the most powerful man in media. He had Rupert sweating bullets and now Barry Diller has to sweet talk him into letting him split up IAC? We have a list coming so lets see who comes out on top! IAC: Breaking Up May Be Hard to Do [BW]

All Hail: King Rupert just got even more Kinglier

-SHOMARI HINES Rupert Murdoch may have finally gotten John Malone off his back for good. Rupert and Malone's camp agreed some months ago that they would do a swap deal which would see John Malone's Liberty Media taking control of Direct TV in exchange for Liberty's very threatening 16.3 percent stake in News Corp. The exchange will fluff up the Murdoch family’s stake in the News Corporation to 38 percent, from 31 percent, resulting in worry free days and nights and care free walks without having to look over their backs. “Murdoch solidifies his family’s voting control and helps the stock with the huge effective share buyback,” said David C. Joyce, an analyst at Miller Tabak & Company in New York. The transaction, which needs approval from the Federal Communications Commission, may be completed by midyear, the companies said in December.Liberty will get a 38.5 percent controlling stake in DirecTV, the largest American satellite TV company, and three local Fox sports channels. Liberty will also receive $588 million in cash, up from $550 million under the initial December agreement. Hmm, wonder how long FCC Chairboy Kevin Martin will take on this one? News Corp. Shareholders Accept Liberty Deal [NYT]

John Malone's New Challenge, Making Direct TV Hot

So John Malone took Rupert Murdoch's bait and settled with taking over Direct TV in exchange for his once threatening stake in News Corp. But the real challenge for the media investor is finding new content for the satellite giant, and maybe applying the technology that allows DTV subscribers to order a pay per view movie when they want instead of having to wait for a fucking start time. OK we went off track a bit right there. Anyway Malone may have found his answer in CableVision's Rainbow Media Holdings. Liberty Media Chairman John Malone is in preliminary talks to acquire Cablevision's Rainbow Media Holdings, which houses movie channels AMC and WE. "They are talking," a senior executive close to Mr. Malone told Advertising Age. "It's the only suite of programming available to purchase. There are a lot of one-offs but there's nothing except Rainbow." Sounds kinda boring but good luck with that Johnny. With DirecTV Deal Done, the Next Need Is Content [Ad Age]