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Liberty Media Moves to Take IAC From Diller

Liberty Media took steps yesterday to seize control of IAC/InterActiveCorp from IAC Chairman Barry Diller, in a marked escalation of hostilities between Mr. Diller and his longtime backer, Liberty Chairman John Malone.

Mr. Diller wasted no time firing back. After Liberty filed court papers seeking to throw Mr. Diller off IAC’s board, along with several other directors, Mr. Diller said in a statement, “I am beginning to think these people are insane.”

But yesterday Liberty tried a legal maneuver to get around the proxy. It said it removed Mr. Diller as the sole director of a series of companies each with the name BDTV, entities through which Liberty owns most of its stake in IAC. It replaced him with Liberty CEO Greg Maffei. Liberty is hoping the maneuver will allow it to reclaim voting control of its stake in IAC, although Mr. Diller is certain to contest it. Yesterday’s court filing was aimed at getting the court’s sanction for both the BDTV and board maneuvers.

“Everything they cite is hogwash,” Mr. Diller said in his statement

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