Business

DELAY FOR DILLER OVER LIBERTY ROW

IAC/InterActiveCorp boss Barry Diller yesterday said his fight with Liberty Media chief John Malone is only in the second round, but it could delay IAC’s break-up by a month.

“Realistically, this could push us back quite some time,” Diller said during a conference call to discuss the company’s earnings. “I don’t think it will last very long, I think, at most, probably a couple of months.”

Diller tried to keep in check his frustration over the fight with Liberty, which has filed a lawsuit to oust Diller and five directors from the IAC board in protest of IAC’s plan to split into five publicly traded units.

“I do wish Liberty hadn’t raised the roof on this in such an aggressive way, but they have,” he said, adding, “Liberty agrees with the concept of the spin. They approved it fully at our directors meeting when we initially proposed it.”

Diller pointed to the company’s tough fourth-quarter results as proof that IAC – whose assets include Ask.com, Home Shopping Network and LendingTree – would be better served by the break-up.

The company swung to a net loss of $369.9 million versus a $15 million profit a year ago. Revenue grew 8 percent to $1.86 billion. The results sent IAC shares down 7 percent to $22.84.

Assuming the company can sort out the Liberty issue, Diller said there would be room for private equity to invest in one or two of IAC’s divisions ahead of the spin-offs, though he declined to say which ones.

Meanwhile, Diller said a combination of Microsoft and Yahoo!, if a deal goes through, could benefit Ask.com.

“It will strengthen competition by having at least two players that are strong and enduring,” he said.