WebProNews » Barry Diller

Barry Diller Talks Net Neutrality at SXSW

Chris Crum — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 19:55:11 +0000

Barry Diller spoke about the various aspects of the media today. We looked at what he had to say about the The Daily Beast/Newsweek deal, The Daily, and the iPad here.
Diller also spoke for a bit about net neutrality. “We are not where we should be,” he said. “We need an unambiguous rule – law that nobody will step between the publisher and the consumer.”

He went on to say that he finds it “really surpsing” that when he talks to different groups, that there aren’t more people screaming on the part of all of the people who are in various ways – creating, thinking, and using the Internet. “I’m not saying we should overthrow the government,” he noted, but seemed to call for more vocal action from the people.

He took a subtle jab at the Wall Street Journal’s editorial policy, calling it “wacky” (his second jab at News Corp. – following comments about The Daily). He described the WSJ’s stance of it being “a terrible thing” to have rules and laws for net neutrality, on the basis that it would “impede investment”.

What will happen, Diller said, is that they’re going to have to build more capacity to accommodate the increase in online video, and they will charge for usage (which he said he thinks is appropriate), but the people who control the broadband will say that they feel it’s their right to say when they think entities are using too much, so they should pay if they’re pushing the bandwidth out. “It would be like asking a toaster to pay for the electricity,” he said.

He said he doesn’t think it would be the death of entrepreneurship, but that what would be terrible is that the Internet would follow the pattern of other communications media from the last hundred years – in the hands of the very few, where editorial politics come into play – and whoever can pay the most wins.

Barry Diller Talks Daily Beast/Newsweek, The Daily, and the iPad at SXSW

Chris Crum — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 19:30:11 +0000

Barry Diller, Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC/InterActiveCorp (and Expedia) spoke at SXSW Interactive today here in Austin about a variety of media-related
topics.

In response to all of the big valuations we’ve seen lately (Twitter, Groupon, etc.), he said, “What interests me is starting businesses on our own – finding ideas that
we can support, and simply investing in invention or ideas, and not in chasing crowds.”

“I’ve never been an investor,” he added. “I got into the Internet very early – very lucky.”

“I think for everybody here [SXSW], what I like so much about this place is that so many people here are essentially following their curiosity…They’re enabled by a miracle – the Internet is a miracle.”

He then discussed the Newsweek/Daily Beast parntership. “We started the Daily Beast because we said nobody was out there – no place yet that had actually a journalist’s [an old media process] that was in the rhythm of the Internet, he said, adding that it’s not an aggregation site, and stressing that it brought a truly old world, journalistic discipline to the Internet.

“Along comes Newsweek,” he said. “Which was becoming more and more irrelevant as a weekly news magazine” when news flashes at the speed of typing a few keys and at the
push of a button. He said, at the Daily Beast, they had longer pieces – deeper things they wanted to cover, so they took the DNA of the Beast and infused it into the print book.

He admitted that he doesn’t know if it will work. “We’ll see in six or eight months,” he said.

The discussion then moved to iPad-only publications – namely “The Daily”.

Diller said he finds it amazing that they put out such a product, and spent so much promoting it, and made it so hard to actually use, recalling that he had to download it on his PC before getting it on his iPad. “That does not seem to me like a contemporary product,” he said.

He pondered why News Corp. would put out an original product for any single platform. “In today’s world that sounds kind of nuts,” he said. “Apple likes it if you pay them. That’s what Apple likes… they invented a gadget. Until that gadget gets superceded by others, which will happen, their closed system will work.”

He then admitted to owning an iPad 2, saying that it is better than the original, but adding that the latest Kindle is better than the original too.

Barry Diller Gives Up Role Of IAC CEO

Doug Caverly — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 16:09:47 +0000

Less than a month after IAC’s Ask.com announced its decision to stop competing in the search market, another major change is taking place as Barry Diller gives up the title "CEO of IAC." Gregg Blatt, who previously served as CEO of Match.com, will replace Diller.

Diller, an industry legend, isn’t leaving the company, in any event; he’ll now act as "Chairman and Senior Executive." Also, Diller intends to purchase enough stock over the next nine months to increase his voting share to more than 40 percent, so it’s not like he’ll be an important figure in name only.

Diller just explained in a statement, "It’s been clear to me for some time that this Company needs a full time aggressive and aspirational executive in the CEO role. While I’m not going anywhere, IAC, with its operating businesses growing, large cash resources and virtually no debt, needs the kind of leadership that Greg Blatt can bring it in order to continue to grow and thrive many years into the future."

So back to Blatt. Blatt became CEO of Match.com in early 2009, and the site experienced record growth under his supervision. Before that, he served as executive vice president, general counsel, and a member of the Office of the Chairman at IAC, and put in some time at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, too.

Blatt said with regards to his promotion, "I couldn’t be more excited about the new position and the opportunities in front of IAC."

Diller States That Paid Content Is On The Way

Frank Reed — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 21:13:59 +0000

Remember not so long ago when Rupert Murdoch was espousing the future of paid content? It is unavoidable was the cry but there has been not much said since. That is, until Barry Diller stated his version of the story at the Goldman Communacopia conference as reported by the Business Insider. Diller has never been one to pull punches so his assessment of the situation comes as no surprise.

He says “people will pay for things” on the Web and anyone that’s worried about upsetting the Internet community is a fool.

If you look back just eight years, says Diller, you’d see everyone writing off the music business as dead and gone, since all music was going to be free, illegal downloads. Now there’s iTunes a good business with smart pricing, and billions in revenue.

Diller’s contention is that the pricing model for this movement is the key element for unlocking the flood gates. Once that is figured out then all bets are off. There was no prognostication as to how quickly this could take place but there is a “the sooner the better” situation in the online publishing world. We don’t need Mr. Diller to tell us that one.

Of course, there’s so much more to talk about in the online world and Mr. Diller didn’t disappoint. He continues

There’s no business model for Web video, but he points out that when he suggested pre-rolls for Web video years ago, “it was like a cross to a vampire.” Now they’re everywhere.

Not a fan of the banner ad. Display ads are just the first stage, there’s a tremendous amount of time to improve.

Bing is a “good product” but it’s “real foolishness” to challenge Google head-on.

So Pilgrims, what’s your take on Barry’s bits of wisdom? Will you pay for your content that up until now has been free? I for one am a bit baffled by the parallel drawn between music and published content. While I may listen to a song a hundred times I won’t revisit content the same way. A song at less than a buck is a great value. An article at any price? Not so sure. Then again Barry wouldn’t be the first person to call me a fool!

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Diller Defends Denying Liberty Media Proposals

WebProNews Staff — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 23:39:47 +0000

When John Malone came calling about possible asset swaps between Liberty Media and IAC, Barry Diller turned them down for not providing good value to IAC investors.

The IAC breakup into five companies became a plan after about a year of fruitless discussions between Diller and Malone. Both moguls tried to find a swap of assets between the two firms that would give Diller Liberty’s stake in IAC.

None of those deals came to fruition as the New York Times noted. Diller believe Malone’s proposals did not offer IAC’s stakeholders a fair shake:

“We never accepted one of them,” Mr. Diller said, “because we never got to the value that was appropriate for IAC shareholders.”

In the wake of Malone accusing Diller of threatening to use his proxy voting power to force the breakup plan through, Liberty Media’s leader painted Diller as an overcompensated executive who was more in tune with maximizing time on the corporate jet than leading IAC to profitability.

There may be a light at the end of this litigation-filled tunnel, and not necessarily one at the front of an oncoming train. Barron’s said the two sides have been engaged in settlement talks while their top executives spend quality time in Delaware’s Court of Chancery sparring over control of IAC.

Diller, Malone Open Court Battle Over IAC

WebProNews Staff — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 11:02:43 +0000

IAC’s Barry Diller and Liberty Media’s John Malone agreed upon a spinoff plan for IAC businesses, but a little something in the fine print turned the plan into a court fight.

Everything comes down to control, especially with media magnates wrestling over billion-dollar deals. Diller picked this particular fight by reaching a lot farther for control of the IAC spinoff companies.

If the plan goes through as proposed, IAC splits into five companies. The side benefit for Diller would be a reduction in Malone’s control in favor of an increase in Diller’s, though a change to a single class of stock for ownership of the businesses.

The Wall Street Journal noted Malone’s objections to this in court, as the case opened in Delaware with Malone on the stand:

Mr. Malone also testified that any restructuring of IAC must proceed in a way that preserved the dual-class voting structure through which Liberty exercises its majority control.

“It’s a breach of the stewardship that we granted him when we started this whole relationship,” said Mr. Malone, who also referred to Mr. Diller’s spinoff proposal as a “crossing of the Rubicon.”

Malone also took shots at Diller’s management style, his compensation, and his use of the company jet.

The change to a single class of stock would make Diller, not Malone, the real winner, as PaidContent noted:

One point to keep in mind: Malone voted with the rest of the IAC board to approve the spinoffs. The real trouble started with the fine print, when it became clear that Diller

Anonymous Source Shoots Down Ask Rumors

WebProNews Staff — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:48:37 +0000

Amid blog-driven hype over possible layoffs at Ask and the abandonment of the search engine in favor of Google comes a rebuttal of those potential moves by Ask parent IAC.

Chatter swirled over the weekend that Barry Diller’s IAC would abandon the technology gains and algorithm-related branding efforts of Ask’s search engine in favor of using Google’s search. AOL has a similar deal in place that uses Google’s search and advertising.

Ask also uses Google ads to deliver a substantial portion of its revenue stream. As PaidContent noted, the Google deal holds the possibility of a closer Ask-Google relationship:

We

Diller Facing Ouster From IAC

WebProNews Staff — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 10:54:20 +0000

Ask.com parent company IAC faces a shakeup in the boardroom if Liberty Media’s John Malone succeeds in shoving Barry Diller out of the IAC chairman position.

Unhappiness between gentlemen no longer entails an appointment at sunrise near the tennis court, with rapiers and seconds the order of the day. Sharp and pointed attacks are limited to comments and legal briefs.

Witness the dispute between Diller and one-time (presumably) close acquaintance Malone. Rich, powerful men squabbling over the fortunes of IAC. Of the current dispute, the Wall Street Journal quoted this gem from Diller about Malone and Liberty Media: “I am beginning to think these people are insane.”

The two sides sued each other recently, as a continuation of the dispute over IAC’s plan to split into five publicly traded companies. It’s a matter of control: Diller’s plans for the breakup leave Liberty with little influence in the four companies aside from IAC – HSN, TicketMaster, Interval International, and LendingTree.

A decision in the current exchange of lawsuits could break Diller’s stranglehold on IAC. Delaware’s Court of Chancery will decide the issue, a powerful proxy setup that lets Diller vote Liberty’s majority shares on IAC issues.

Jim Lanzone must be glad to be away from Ask and IAC these days.

IAC Jimmies The Ask CEO Office

WebProNews Staff — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 23:37:28 +0000

A management reorg at Barry Diller’s IAC has Match.com’s former CEO Jim Safka heading up the Ask.com division, with outgoing CEO Jim Lanzone heading for the world of venture capital.

A few weeks ahead of IAC’s 4Q 2007 earnings call on February 8th, the company has made some changes at the search engine and around parent company IAC.

IAC announced today Lanzone will remain as an advisor during the changeover as Safka settles into the position. Lanzone plans to join Redpoint Ventures, as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence.

“Jim Lanzone was the principal executive responsible for Ask.com’s turnaround over the last two years. His passion for innovation and his every day dedication to the business and its people have been everything anyone could ask for,” Diller said in a statement. “He is a superb executive and leader and I’m hopeful we can be associated in the future.”

We at WebProNews have always appreciated Lanzone’s candor and knowledge, and hope Safka will emulate his predecessor. The well-traveled Safka has stops at AT&T Wireless, E-Trade, and several other firms along with his prior stint running the dating site in his background.

Another executive, Scott Garell, has been named President of Ask.com. He will manage the search engine’s global operations. Garell formerly held the position of CEO of IAC Consumer Applications & Portals, including Fun Web Products, Evite, and Pronto.

IAC Partners With Brightcove

Mike Sachoff — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 15:28:05 +0000

IAC/Interactive Corp has entered into an agreement with online video syndication service Brightcove to create and distribute video online for IAC brands.

Under the terms of the deal any IAC business can use Brightcove to publish video content to their Web sites, manage syndication, and integrate advertising.

"Brightcove is in tune with the new content consumers want and has been able to recognize the need for effective video distribution in a world where computer screens are replacing television screens," said Barry Diller, Chairman and CEO of IAC.

"By making this platform available across IAC we can continue to deepen engagement with our online audiences, expand the reach of our brands, and open powerful new revenue streams through online video advertising across our sites."

Ticketmaster, Citysearch and 23/6 will be the first IAC brands to use the service, the companies said. IAC has had a minority stake in Brightcove since December 2006. Other backers of the privately held company include Hearst Corp and AllianceBernstein