| Diller vs Malone
With friends like John Malone, the world's most powerful media executives could do without enemies. The cable industry mogul – who won the nickname Darth Vader because of his ruthless dealmaking style – is at it again, and in spectacular style. He has turned on his long-time ally, the television executive-turned-internet entrepreneur Barry Diller, and is trying to oust him from the helm of his internet empire, IAC/InterActiveCorp. Mr Diller has shot back that Mr Malone's reasons are "incomprehensible" and that his people have gone "insane", but the situation last night was that both men stubbornly insisted that they controlled the company. It promises to be a doozy of a media feud. IAC is Mr Diller's publicly quoted holding company, whose businesses include the box office website Ticketmaster, the upstart search engine Ask.com and the home shopping channel HSN.
IAC's shares jump 2% amid turmoil
IAC/InterActiveCorp, owner of the HSN home shopping network and Ticketmaster, rose almost 2 percent in U.S. trading on speculation billionaire John Malone will fail to wrest control of the company from chairman Barry Diller. Malone's Liberty Media Corp., which holds 30 percent of IAC's shares and 62 percent of its voting power, asked a court to let it oust Diller and six directors from IAC's board, according to a complaint filed Monday in Wilmington, Del. Liberty, the Douglas County-based owner of the QVC and Starz channels, wants to name three directors to IAC's board to fill the vacancies. IAC and Liberty traded lawsuits last week over Diller's plan to split IAC into five publicly traded companies and to halve Liberty's voting power. IAC rose 48 cents to $25.65 in Nasdaq composite trading, the highest since Jan.
Malone Moves to Oust Diller
Never underestimate John Malone when it comes to getting what he wants. The billionaire onetime cable baron has been hot on the trail of Home Shopping Network for months, eager to pressure its current owner, IAC/Interactive Corp. (IACI), into selling it to him. But insiders say that Barry Diller, IAC's CEO, is asking for too much. So Malone and his Liberty Media (LCAPA) are moving to oust Diller and stop a planned breakup of his online commerce company. The spoils? Likely a cut-rate deal for HSN, the TV shopping outfit, which Malone would then merge with Liberty's QVC shopping network into a giant television and online outlet for porcelain vases and zirconium jewelry. After months of negotiating, and some non-too-subtle jabs at Diller in the press and before investor forums, Liberty pulled out its nuclear option Jan.
Liberty likes TicketMaster look
In the clash of media titans, conventional wisdom has been that John Malone will acquire Home Shopping Network from Barry Diller. There may be another part of Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp that Liberty Media eyes for its portfolio: TicketMaster. Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei told the UBS Global Media & Communications Conference in New York on Monday that TicketMaster "is a great business, and at the right number, sure, we would be interested in that business." It could provide synergies with DirecTV, which Liberty Media will soon control thanks to a deal with Rupert Murdoch. Maffei's commentary on IAC's businesses is not just idle chatter. Diller announced Nov. 5 that he would separate IAC into five companies in order to unlock shareholder value. His biggest shareholder is Liberty Media, with a 24.1 percent stake, and Malone, Liberty's chairman and major stockholder, is seeking that value, negotiating with Diller over what he'll take to green-light the split-up.
Tradition, old and new, inspires maestro
Guest conductor Robert Moody is looking forward to directing the San Antonio Symphony Holiday Pops concert this weekend, but he acknowledges that there's one big downside to working on the road in the days right before Christmas. His shopping time is limited. "I'm driving to the mall right now," Moody said over the phone last Friday. "I have to get this done now, since I won't get back home until after midnight on Dec. 23." Such is the life of a classical musician in December. "I've always said that December for a musician is like late March or early April for an accountant," Moody says. But, he says, the holiday havoc is worth it to "create a program that combines some of the most familiar Christmas music, the great carols and Christmas songs, with pieces that are not so well-known, sometimes barely known at all.
Developer envisions Warminster Plaza expansion
The new owners of the Warminster Plaza shopping center say they want to expand and modernize the partially empty shopping center. The 12-acre property at 654 York Road - across from Archbishop Wood High School - is home to Petco and other stores. It was sold last year for $12.4 million to Philadelphia-based Walnut Street Capital. Eric Kuhn, vice president of GM Suburban Development, said at a township supervisors meeting Thursday that his company wants to rezone the land from shopping center to commercial. The shopping center totals 120,000 square feet. Kuhn said the update would add approximately 20,000 square feet of commercial space. Both GM Suburban Development and Walnut Street Capital are run by Philadelphia developer Joe Grasso. His companies have developed at least 27 shopping centers throughout the region, Kuhn said.
Liberty Media reports mixed 3rd quarter; Starz shines, QVC slumps
Liberty Media Corp. said today its third-quarter revenue climbed, although a solid performance by the Starz cable TV channel was offset by lower sales in the QVC home-shopping network. The diversified media holding company, founded by cable pioneer John Malone, was expected to release full consolidated financial statements later today. Liberty, based in suburban Englewood, has divided its assets into two groups, Liberty Interactive Group, which includes QVC and other e-commerce businesses, and Liberty Capital Group, which consists of Starz Entertainment LLC. Each has its own tracking stock. Liberty said its interactive group reported a 10 percent drop in operating income to $231 million from $257 million last year. Revenue edged up to $1.69 billion from $1.65 billion.
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