Comments on: IAC to Split into Five Publicly Traded Companies http://paidcontent.org/2007/11/05/419-iac-to-split-into-five-publicly-traded-companies/ The economics of digital content Fri, 13 Dec 2013 18:54:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: John C. Smith http://paidcontent.org/2007/11/05/419-iac-to-split-into-five-publicly-traded-companies/#comment-54547 Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:34:57 +0000 http://paidcontent.wp.gostage.it/2007/11/05/419-iac-to-split-into-five-publicly-traded-companies/#comment-54547 Totally agree.

Diller may have been a talented entertainment / programming exec back in the day — but he's achieved very little since, particularly online.

What he has done, he's engineered through self-dealing (per the above comment) and astute up-trading from the basis of Silver King, which John Malone basically gave him 10-15 yrs ago after QVC's failed takeover of Paramount.

Which is not to say Diller's not smart — he just hasn't built much value. And he certainly hasn't launched/created great products, or done anything otherwise that is innovative.

]]> By: bfrinistan http://paidcontent.org/2007/11/05/419-iac-to-split-into-five-publicly-traded-companies/#comment-54546 Mon, 05 Nov 2007 19:43:53 +0000 http://paidcontent.wp.gostage.it/2007/11/05/419-iac-to-split-into-five-publicly-traded-companies/#comment-54546 IAC's business is not hard to understand. The discount on the stock exists because no one trusts Barry Diller not to dilute shareholders by continuously granting himself option grants. Additionally, no one trusts Barry Diller not to divest the company of very valuable assets/divisions at a discount in exchange for John Malone and Liberty Media's controlling interest in the company (similar to News Corp exchanging its 38% stake in DirecTV for Liberty's 18% voting stake in News Corp.) Diller's objectives for absolute voting control and shareholder's objectives for obtaining value for the company's assets are diametrically opposed. Look at Berkshire Hathaway: Would Warren Buffett decide to split Berkshire up for reasons similar to Diller's? If you have credibility, instead of a mouthful of sentences in explaining the businesses, the only thing a CEO needs to state is profits and the market will take it from there. Diller is focused on maintaining control like a majority owner for the sake of his vanity, when in reality he is a minority shareholder that has shaky control based on voting rights on Liberty Media's ownership.

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