Diller Blasts Liberty's CEO

NEW YORK Barry Diller called Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei an “irresponsible executive” during testimony Thursday in a court trial to decide the fate of IAC/InterActiveCorp, the publicly traded company made up mostly of a hodgepodge of Internet assets.

Diller added that he rejected, on the grounds that they were unfair, several offers from Liberty chairman John Malone to swap some of IAC’s assets in return for Liberty’s 30 percent stake in IAC.

An IAC lawyer testified earlier Thursday that talks between representatives of Diller and Malone that have been on-and-off for months still are taking place, even as the two duke it out in court.

Diller said he would still pursue his plan of splitting IAC into five separate companies, and slashing Malone’s voting stake from 62 percent to 30 percent, if vice chancellor Stephen Lamb, overseeing the trial with no jury, grants permission.

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