Barry Diller's Secret Weapon: Shopping
How will Barry Diller get John "Darth Vader" Malone to put down his light saber and end his fight for Diller-controlled internet conglomerate IAC? Shopping! According to the Wall Street Journal, evil queen Diller's approach focuses on cable shopping network HSN, and will go something like this: Come on, Johnny Death Star, it'll be fun! When I called you "insane" I meant "insane about a good sale!" HSN totally redid their interior, out with the shoddy gauche stuff and in with Sephora and Scoop NYC. They stock TONS of black, which I know is your favorite. What I think you'll like best is that the prices haven't even changed. If you act now, you can get the shopping network for the same low, low price I offered before — the rest of IAC, safely in my hands — and I'll throw in the extra 5 percent in quarterly sales HSN just posted at no additional charge. And if you call now, I'll also add the Nike champ I lured to run HSN. [WSJ]