IAC's Diller Not Interested In Acquiring AOL
September 16 2009 - 1:15PM
Dow Jones News
DOW JONES (New York)--Barry Diller, chief executive of
IAC/InteractiveCorp. (IACI), said Wednesday he's not interested in
acquiring AOL after the Internet business is spun off from its
parent company, Time Warner Inc. (TWX).
"I have no interest in purchasing AOL, but there are kinds of
alliances that are possible for us," Diller said at an investor
conference in New York City. "Those maybe will happen, or maybe
they won't happen."
Time Warner - unable to sell AOL on favorable terms - is
planning to spin it off as an independent public company, though it
remains a source of acquisition speculation in media circles.
With it's $1.6-billion cash pile, IAC is a potential buyer with
a stable of Internet businesses that have clear overlap with
AOL.
But while Diller expressed optimism about IAC's future as an
independent firm under the leadership of its new chief executive,
Tim Armstrong, he also said he plans to continue making small
acquisitions that demand little capital investment.
"I don't see us buying anything [big]," said Diller. "Around the
corner, who knows? But it's not in the plot."
-By Nat Worden, Dow Jones Newswires; (212) 416-2472;
nat.worden@dowjones.com