Media mogul Barry Diller continues to maneuver his pieces of IAC/InterActiveCorp to stay ahead of old friend John Malone in their game to control the outcome of the company's pending breakup. In his latest effort, Diller reportedly is talking with outside buyers for all four of the new companies, according to the Saturday Wall Street Journal, which cited unnamed sources. No specific buyers were listed, but the article specifically mentioned retailers showing interest in HSN, and buyout firms interested in time-share exchange Interval International. (If we were to venture a guess on the HSN deal, Amazon.com Inc.'s Home Shopping Network sounds better than Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s Home Shopping Network. But if Wal-Mart is the potential buyer, may we suggest to the folks in Bentonville, Ark., Sam's Club TV.)
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The move comes after Malone's Liberty Media Corp. filed suit against IAC over the breakup plan. Liberty, the controlling shareholder in IAC, does not like the spinoff because the plan will lead to the new companies dumping IAC's dual-share structure. Since Diller controls the voting of Liberty's stake, the company's best option to thwart the plan was legal action. - Matthew Wurtzel
See story from The Wall Street Journal
See earlier post from Dealscape
