Barry Diller is fighting back.
The media mogul said today he only agreed to pay $480,000 to settle an antitrust complaint over his purchase of 1 million shares of Coca-Cola to avoid the time and expense of a court challenge.
The Federal Trade Commission said yesterday the IAC/InterActiveCorp chairman bought nearly 1 million shares of the soft-drink giant without giving regulators proper advance notice. Under the settlement, Diller neither denied nor admitted guilt.
He said he was “dismayed” the FTC failed to note in its press release that the settlement amount was “a small fraction” of the amount regulators were entitled to.
“In fact, I am told that the amount I agreed to pay is one of the smallest percentages the FTC has settled for with respect to purported violations of the [Hart Scott Rodino] Act.” That act mandates that large purchases of stock that could affect commerce must be preceded by federal notification.
While not disputing the facts, the 71-year-old Diller said the FTC failed to say that the purchases were made by him personally and he made the required filings as soon as he realized he was in violation of the rules.
“I gained no advantage of any kind and there was no harm to Coca-Cola shareholders, nor to anyone else,” Diller said.
“While I am surely not suffering, one can fairly question the tactics used by the FTC in penalizing individuals for de minimis open-market share purchases and inadvertent paper shuffling.”
He also took issue with the FTC’s comments about an earlier failure to file, saying it was “a technical failure to file by USA Networks in 1998 in connection with a transaction that was initially below the HSR thresholds.”
Diller said he was making the statement because “I care about good citizenship and good government, and it would be unfair to both not to comment.”
The FTC declined to comment.