BARRY DILLER - MALONE-DILLER FEUD ESCALATES

MALONE-DILLER FEUD ESCALATES

Attorneys for Barry Diller's IAC have gone to court to block John Malone's Liberty Media from taking over the company and ousting him and those loyal to him from the IAC board of directors. In a filing in Delaware chancery court, the attorneys accused Malone and Liberty of going "off the deep end." They called Malone's accusations against Diller "preposterous" and added, "the contention that Liberty is now in control of [IAC] is inexplicable." Diller issued a separate statement saying that Liberty's actions amounted to "a desperate sideshow designed to exert pressure on the board and management of IAC as they attempt to responsibly act in the best interest of their stockholders. All it demonstrates is that Liberty will stop at nothing to advance their own interests at the expense of the other stockholders. Needless to say, IAC will not be daunted." New York Post business columnist Peter Lauria quoted an unnamed source today (Wednesday) as saying that Diller's "name calling has got Malone smiling ... because it means he's accomplished his objective of putting Diller on the defensive."

30/01/2008