September 29th, 2009
Is Barry Diller delusional?
Here’s chapter 120 of Barry Diller’s “people will and should pay for online content” tour. But I have a nagging question: Why exactly are we still listening to Diller?
First, here’s the video of Diller rapping with Katie Couric. The refrain sounds familiar: Pay for online content dammit!
Diller has accomplished a lot, but I’m not sure he’s a Web mogul in the same way that he’s a Hollywood mogul. He’s a Hollywood legend and he had a stake in QVC, which turned out to be huge. But his online endeavors have been a touch confusing. Diller, Chairman and CEO of IAC/InterActive Corp., has put the company through multiple phases. Tracking IAC is downright difficult. Diller’s IAC bought Ask.com in 2005 and set out to be a search giant. That didn’t quite work out. IAC bought Expedia and then spun it out. Simply put, IAC is a mish-mash of properties.
Shareholder value? Don’t count on it. IAC shares have recently surged, but over the last 10 years value has been hard to come by. You can find Diller’s wheeling and dealing timeline at IAC’s site. Diller is like a Web property day trader. What’s harder to figure out is how these moves add up to anything.
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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