Liberty Media took steps Monday to seize control of IAC/InterActiveCorp from IAC chairman Barry Diller, in a marked escalation of hostilities between Diller and his longtime backer, Liberty chairman John Malone, reports the Wall Street Journal. Diller fired back after Liberty filed court papers seeking to throw him off IAC’s board, along with several other directors, saying in a statement: “I am beginning to think these people are insane.” Liberty nominated replacement directors for the board members it wanted to replace, and took steps to undercut a proxy agreement that allows Diller to vote Liberty’s majority voting stake in IAC. Agreed in the mid-1990s, the proxy is seen as essentially unbreakable, ending only when Diller dies or leaves the company. Whether or not Liberty succeeds in getting around the proxy, Monday’s developments, a week after IAC and Liberty sued each other over a proposed IAC restructuring, signals the end of more than a decade’s partnership, notes the Journal.

This entry was posted by Gwen Robinson on Tuesday, January 29th, 2008 at 5:44 and is filed under Capital markets, People. Tagged with barry diller, iac, John Malone, liberty media. Edit this entry.