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Feature
Story
#102DillerMay Buy Ask
Jeeves
• •
The conglomerate reportedly is near a
$2-billion deal for the Internet search
service.
• • NEW YORK --
IAC/InterActiveCorp, an Internet conglomerate run
by media mogul Barry Diller, is near a deal to buy
Web-search service Ask Jeeves Inc., sources
familiar with the matter said Sunday.
• • The Wall Street Journal, which
first reported the deal, said IAC would pay $2
billion in stock, a 40% premium to Ask Jeeves'
market capitalization on Friday.
• • Neither Ask Jeeves nor IAC
were immediately available for comment.
• • IAC has a variety of Internet
businesses, including Home Shopping Network, Web
directory Citysearch and online mortgage provider
LendingTree. It also owns travel site Expedia.
• • Ask Jeeves' website Ask.com,
with its cartoon butler mascot Jeeves, became known
during the Internet boom of the late 1990s for
providing the answer to queries made in the form of
a question.
• • The reported price would value
Ask Jeeves stock at about $33.90 a share, compared
with a close of $24.24 on Friday on Nasdaq. That
would be below the 52-week high of $44.66 that the
stock hit in April and the $34.99 it closed at Oct.
27, when the company reported earnings that sparked
worries about growth and pushed the stock down 24%
in one day.
• • Other media companies have
also received rich valuations recently as they have
become hot properties once again. New York Times
Co., for instance, agreed to buy information portal
About.com for $410 million, and Dow Jones & Co.
paid $528 million for financial news website
MarketWatch Inc.
• • Ask Jeeves would be one in a
stream of acquisitions for IAC, which this month
said it would buy catalog and online retailer
Cornerstone Brands Inc. for $720 million to expand
across multiple retail outlets.
• • It would put IAC more directly
in competition with larger search sites run by
Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp.
///
Center
Page / TIMELINE
BARRY DILLER.
1942 -
BARRY DILLER. Born in San Francisco,
California, U.S.A., 2 February 1942. Assistant to
vice president in charge of programming, ABC-TV,
1966; executive assistant to vice president in
programming and director of feature films, ABC,
1966 - Barry
Diller was raised in Beverly Hills and started out
in the mail room of the William Morris Agency. He
joined ABC in 1966 and was soon placed in charge of
negotiating broadcast rights to feature films.
1966 - Diller
joined ABC's programming department in 1966 and was
placed charge of negotiating broadcast rights to
feature films from the major studios. Promoted to
vice president in charge of feature films and
program development
1966 - Diller
inaugurated ABC's Movie of the Week, a regular
series of 90-minute films made exclusively for
television. Premiering on 23 September 1969, the
program became the most popular movie series in
television history and helped ABC achieve parity
with NBC and CBS in the ratings.
1968 - vice
president, feature films and program development,
ABC,
1969 - created
TV movies of the week and miniseries as vice
president, feature films, Circle Entertainment,
division of ABC,
1969 - He was
promoted to vice president in charge of feature
films and program development in 1969. In that
position, Diller created the ABC Movie of the Week,
a regular series of 90-minute films made
exclusively for television.
1971 - vice
president, prime-time TV, ABC,
1972 - Diller
ordered up social problem films that explored
current issues such as homosexuality (That Certain
Summer, 1972), the Vietnam War (The Ballad of Andy
Crocker, 1969), and drugs (Go Ask Alice,
1972 - Diller
served for ten years as the Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer of Paramount Pictures Corporation
starting in With Diller at the helm, the studio
produced hit television programs such as Laverne
& Shirley (1976), Taxi (1978), and Cheers
(1982) and films ranging from Saturday Night Fever
(1977), and Grease (1978) to Raiders of the Lost
Ark (1981) and its sequel Indiana Jones and the
Temple of Doom
1973 - Capable
of being quickly produced at a cost of around
$350,000 each, docudramas as they were called,
probed current newspaper headlines and American
popular culture for gripping topics targeted at
young urban and adult audiences. By 1972, MFTs had
become an established network programming
practice.
1973 - board
chair and president, Paramount Pictures,
1974 - at age
32, Diller was named chairman of Paramount
Pictures. He was hired by Charles Bluhdorn, head of
Gulf & Western Industries, a sprawling
conglomerate that had acquired Paramount in 1966.
Ten years at the helm, Diller oversaw a studio that
produced hit television series that included
Laverne & Shirley 1976
- Taxi (1978), and Cheers (1982) and a
string of motion picture ranging from Saturday
Night Fever 1977 - Grease (1978) to Raiders of the
Lost Ark (1981) and its sequel Indiana Jones and
the Temple of Doom (1984) to Terms of Endearment
(1983) and Beverly Hills Cop (1984).
1974 -
president, Gulf & Western
Entertainment and Communications Group (while
retaining Paramount titles),
1983 - resigned
from Paramount and joined 20th Century Fox as board
chair and chief executive officer, 1984 - named
chair and chief executive officer, Fox, Inc.,
1984 -
to
Terms of Endearment (1983) and Beverly Hills Cop
(1984).
1984 - Diller
quit his job in 1984 over a dispute with Gulf &
Western's new head, Martin S. Davis, and went to
work for Twentieth Century-FOX.
1985 - After
the studio was acquired by Australian newspaper
mogul Rupert Murdoch in 1985, Diller embarked on a
plan to launch a fourth television network to
compete with the Big Three.
1985 - named to
board, News Corp. Limited, June 1987;
1986 - The
nucleus of the network consisted of Metromedia
Television, a group of seven big-city television
stations reaching 23% of the population, which
Murdoch purchased from John Kluge in 1986 for $2
billion.
1992 - chief
executive officer, QVC Network,
1992 - From
October to April 1992, he held the positions of
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fox, Inc,
parent company of Fox Broadcasting Company and 20th
Century Fox. Diller quit 20th Century-Fox in 1992
and purchased a $25 million stake in QVC
teleshopping network. Diller resigned from QVC in
1995.
1992 - In a
move that surprised the industry, Diller quit
Twentieth Century-Fox in 1992 and purchased a $25
million stake in QVC teleshopping network.
1992 - Lining
up an amalgam of local UHF and VHF stations, FOX
Broadcasting started out cautiously in 1987 with
only two nights of prime-time programming, but by
1990 it had expanded its schedule to five nights.
Diller had succeeded against all odds by developing
low cost "reality" programming such as Cops and
America's Most Wanted and alternative fare such as
In Living Color, Married...with Children, and The
Simpsons, aimed at the youth audience, ages
18-34.
1992 - purchased a $25
million stake in QVC teleshopping network. Diller
resigned from QVC in 1995.
1992 - resigned
from 20th Century Fox, February
1992-95 - Board
of Directors: News Corp. Ltd.; FCC Advisory
Committee on Advanced TV Services; Museum TV and
Radio; Academy of Arts and Sciences Foundation.
Member: President's Export Council.
1993 - As chair
of QVC, Diller launched a takeover bid for
Paramount Communications (the new name of Gulf
& Western after the conglomerate sold off its
non-entertainment businesses) in 1993.
1993 - Freeman,
Mike. "QVC's Diller: Redefining TV" (interview).
Broadcasting (Washington, D.C.), 25 January
1993.
1994 - The
battle for Paramount was joined by Sumner
Redstone's Viacom Inc., which submitted a winning
bid of $9.6 billion in 1994.
1995 - Diller
resignes from QVC.
1995 - Foiled
in his attempt to take over a major film studio,
Diller resigned from QVC in 1995 and acquired
Silver King Communications, a small group of UHF
stations, in an attempt to create a hybrid cable TV
network that would offer a full schedule of
entertainment, sports, and news. To finance the
venture, Diller had secured the backing of John
Malone, president and CEO of Telecommunications
Inc., the nation's largest cable operator. Although
the outcome of the Silver King venture is unclear,
Diller will likely remain a key player in the cable
television industry for the indefinite future.
1997 - Ask
Jeeves started in 1997 as a search engine that used
mostly plain language instead of the terms and
symbols that were commonly used on search sites of
the time.
1998 -
Purchases part of Ticketmaster
1999 - Acquires
Match.com and part of Hotel Reservations
Hotels.com
1999 - when his
offer to buy Lycos Inc. for $21.5 billion fell
apart.
2001 - Buys
controlling interest in Expedia.com
2001 - Diane
von Furstenberg (m. 2-Feb-2001)
2003 - Acquires
Udate.com, Anyway.com, Hotwire LlendingTree,
RealEstate.com, GetSmart and all of Home.com and
Expedia
2004 - Acquires
TriopAdvisor, ServiceMagic, ZeroDegrees, Home Loan
Center and interest in Elong, a Chinaes onlietrave
provider
2004 - But
portals are no sure thing. Lycos faded into
obscurity in the post-tech bubble economy and in
2004 was sold to Daum Communications Corp. of South
Korea for about $95 million.
2005 - Diller
is currently the Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer of IAC/InterActiveCorp, the parent of
companies such as Expedia, Home Shopping Network
and Ticketmaster among others on 3/22/05 11:13 AM,
PRISCILLA CORY at priscory@sbcglobal.net wrote:
2005 - His
firm's $1.9-billion deal for Ask Jeeves would cap a
years-long desire for a Web portal.
///
ByLines:
Editors Note
• •
Barry Diller is an
innovative television executive best known for
organizing a fourth network at FOX Broadcasting to
challenge the domination of American prime time
television by ABC, CBS, and NBC. Starting out in
the mail room of the William Morris Agency, Diller
joined ABC's programming department in 1966 and was
placed charge of negotiating broadcast rights to
feature films from the major studios. Promoted to
vice president in charge of feature films and
program development in 1969, Diller inaugurated
ABC's Movie of the Week, a regular series of
90-minute films made exclusively for television.
Premiering on 23 September 1969, the program became
the most popular movie series in television history
and helped ABC achieve parity with NBC and CBS in
the ratings.
• •
Made-for-television
films (MFTs) had appeared intermittently on prime
time since 1965, when NBC contracted with MCA for
more than thirty World Premiere movies to be
delivered over a several year period. But it was
Diller who devised the formula that enabled MFTs to
outstrip the ratings power of theatrical movies.
Abandoning conventional narratives such as westerns
and crime melodramas, Diller ordered up social
problem films that explored current issues such as
homosexuality (That Certain Summer, 1972), the
Vietnam War (The Ballad of Andy Crocker, 1969), and
drugs (Go Ask Alice, 1973). Capable of being
quickly produced at a cost of around $350,000 each,
docudramas as they were called, probed current
newspaper headlines and American popular culture
for gripping topics targeted at young urban and
adult audiences. By 1972, MFTs had become an
established network programming
practice.
• • In 1974
at age 32, Diller was named chairman of Paramount
Pictures. He was hired by Charles Bluhdorn, head of
Gulf & Western Industries, a sprawling
conglomerate that had acquired Paramount in 1966.
Ten years at the helm, Diller oversaw a studio that
produced hit television series that included
Laverne & Shirley (1976), Taxi (1978), and
Cheers (1982) and a string of motion picture
ranging from Saturday Night Fever (1977), Grease
(1978) to Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and its
sequel Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
to Terms of Endearment (1983) and Beverly Hills Cop
(1984).
• • Diller
quit his job in 1984 over a dispute with Gulf &
Western's new head, Martin S. Davis, and went to
work for Twentieth Century-FOX. After the studio
was acquired by Australian newspaper mogul Rupert
Murdoch in 1985, Diller embarked on a plan to
launch a fourth television network to compete with
the Big Three. The nucleus of the network consisted
of Metromedia Television, a group of seven big-city
television stations reaching 23% of the population,
which Murdoch purchased from John Kluge in 1986 for
$2 billion. Lining up an amalgam of local UHF and
VHF stations, FOX Broadcasting started out
cautiously in 1987 with only two nights of
prime-time programming, but by 1990 it had expanded
its schedule to five nights. Diller had succeeded
against all odds by developing low cost "reality"
programming such as Cops and America's Most Wanted
and alternative fare such as In Living Color,
Married...with Children, and The Simpsons, aimed at
the youth audience, ages
18-34.
• • In a
move that surprised the industry, Diller quit
Twentieth Century-Fox in 1992 and purchased a $25
million stake in QVC teleshopping network. As chair
of QVC, Diller launched a takeover bid for
Paramount Communications (the new name of Gulf
& Western after the conglomerate sold off its
non-entertainment businesses) in 1993. The battle
for Paramount was joined by Sumner Redstone's
Viacom Inc., which submitted a winning bid of $9.6
billion in 1994. Foiled in his attempt to take over
a major film studio, Diller resigned from QVC in
1995 and acquired Silver King Communications, a
small group of UHF stations, in an attempt to
create a hybrid cable TV network that would offer a
full schedule of entertainment, sports, and news.
To finance the venture, Diller had secured the
backing of John Malone, president and CEO of
Telecommunications Inc., the nation's largest cable
operator. Although the outcome of the Silver King
venture is unclear, Diller will likely remain a key
player in the cable television industry for the
indefinite future.
• • • • His firm's
$1.9-billion deal for Ask Jeeves would cap a
years-long desire for a Web portal.
\-----"It
just goes to show you, says", Josie Cory --
"NOTHING IN THIS WORLD IS PERMANENT" . . .
so follow the
money -
- and
take some advice from a dinner-time chat with
"Stonehead" --
Disappointments Are Great! Follow
the Money . . . the Internet and the Smart- Daaf
Boys.
///
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Cory
Publisher/Editor
TVI Magazine
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