Malone, Diller Court Battle Begins

WILMINGTON,
March 11: The battle between longtime business partners John Malone and Barry
Diller headed into court yesterday, as Liberty Media fights to take control of
IAC/InterActiveCorp.

Diller is
seeking to break IAC up into five companies, a move that Malone, the chairman
of Liberty Media, which owns 30 percent of IAC, has rejected. The division of
IAC would dilute Malone’s voting control of the company; although Liberty owns
just 30 percent of IAC, it controls 62 percent through a second class of
“super-voting” shares.

Earlier this
year, IAC filed suit against Liberty, seeking a ruling that Diller’s proxy gave
him the right to vote for the spinoff. Liberty Media countersued, seeking the
termination of the proxy granted to Diller and his removal from the board.
Diller is expected to testify this week, reports indicate.

—By
Mansha Daswani