Barry Diller
Encyclopedia
Barry Charles Diller is the Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC/InterActiveCorp
and the media
executive responsible for the creation of Fox Broadcasting Company
and USA Broadcasting
.
, the son of Reva (née Addison) and Michael Diller. He began his career through a family connection in the mailroom of the William Morris Agency
after dropping out of UCLA after one semester. He was hired as an assistant by Elton Rule, then west coast head of ABC
who was promoted to network President at the same time Diller went to work for him in 1964, taking him on to New York, and Diller was soon placed in charge of negotiating broadcast rights to feature film
s. He was promoted to Vice President of Development in 1965. In this position, Diller created the ABC Movie of the Week, pioneering the concept of the made-for-television movie
through a regular series of 90-minute films produced exclusively for television
.
of Paramount Pictures
Corporation starting in 1974. 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
(1984) to Terms of Endearment
(1983) and Beverly Hills Cop
(1984).
and 20th Century Fox
, where he greenlighted hits like The Simpsons. Diller quit 20th Century Fox in 1992 and purchased a $25 million stake in QVC
teleshopping network. Diller then launched a bid to purchase Paramount Communications
, but lost it to Viacom. Diller resigned from QVC in 1995.
's Home Shopping Network
as well as the Home Shopping Network itself. Along with this acquisition, Diller also purchased the rights to the USA Network
from the Bronfman family. Due to Home Shopping getting more notoriety on the cable networks from his former dealings with the QVC Network, Diller sought to repurpose the broadcast stations into independent, locally-run stations as part of a station group dubbed USA Broadcasting
of which the flagship station was WAMI-TV
in Miami Beach, Florida
.
The purpose of the network was to have the flagship, WAMI, produce sports and news programming while testing general interest programming for the other stations in the group, of which the general interest programming would be locally produced by the other stations in the group. Due to the high costs involved with producing and acquiring talent for shows outside the typical areas of New York City
and Los Angeles
, plus the significantly low ratings such shows received in Miami Beach, the remaining shows were moved to Los Angeles to regain traction, but never did. Diller eventually sold the TV assets to Univision
after rejecting a bid from The Walt Disney Company
. The USA Network and its assets were later sold off to Vivendi
. Diller retained the assets of the Home Shopping Network and the subsequent Internet assets he acquired later to bolster the HSN Online stable that later became IAC/InterActiveCorp
.
Diller is currently the Chairman of Expedia
and the Chairman of IAC/InterActiveCorp
, an interactive commerce conglomerate and the parent of companies including ServiceMagic
, Match.com
, Citysearch
, and Connected Ventures, home of Vimeo
and CollegeHumor
. In 2005, IAC/InterActiveCorp acquired Ask.com
, marking a strategic move into the Internet search category.
He stepped down as Chief Executive Officer of IAC/InterActiveCorp
on December 2, 2010.
Diller has been on the board of Coca-Cola
since 2002. The new headquarters of IAC/InterActiveCorp
was designed by Frank Gehry
and opened in 2007 at 18th Street and the West Side Highway in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood. The western half of the block is dedicated to the building which stands several stories taller than the massive Chelsea Piers
Sporting complex just across the West Side Highway. The extra floors guarantee a panoramic Hudson River view from Diller's sixth-floor office.
In 2003, on the PBS
TV program NOW with Bill Moyers, Diller vocalized a strong warning against media consolidation. In the interview he referred to media ownership by a few big corporations as an oligarchy
, saying the concentration strangles new ideas.
Diller was "the highest-paid executive [of 2005 fiscal year]" according to a report by The New York Times on Thursday, October 26, 2006 with a total compensation package in excess of $295 million. In an opinion article in the New York Times of Nov 7, 2006, Nicholas D. Kristof
awarded him his annual Michael Eisner Award, consisting of a $5 shower curtain, for corporate rapacity and laziness.
(who was President & COO of Paramount Pictures
while Diller was Chairman & CEO of Paramount Pictures
, who went on to become Chairman & CEO of The Walt Disney Company
), Dawn Steel
(future head of Columbia Pictures
and the first woman to run a movie studio, who worked under Diller at Paramount), Jeffrey Katzenberg
(head of PDI/DreamWorks Animation
, principal of DreamWorks SKG, former head of Walt Disney Studios, and a head of production of Paramount under Diller), Garth Ancier
, President of BBC America, and Don Simpson
, who was President of Production at Paramount under Diller and Eisner, was also included – he later went on to run a production company based on the Disney lot with Jerry Bruckheimer
.
Diller worked with Stephen Chao
at Fox Television, whom he later hired as President of Programming and Marketing at USA Network. Julius Genachowski
, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission
, served as Diller's General Counsel during their tenure at USA Broadcasting, and again as Chief of Business Operations and a member of Barry Diller's Office of the Chairman at IAC/InterActiveCorp
.
. He is stepfather to Alexander von Furstenberg and Tatiana von Furstenberg
.
Diller owns the worlds largest sailing yacht, the 92.92 metres (304.9 ft) Eos
.
He is a life-long Democrat and supporter of related political causes. As of April 2011, Diller's estimated net worth was $1.3 billion.
IAC/InterActiveCorp
InterActiveCorp is an American internet company with over 50 brands across 40 countries headquartered in New York City...
and the media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
executive responsible for the creation of Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
and USA Broadcasting
USA Broadcasting
USA Broadcasting was an American media company owned by veteran entertainment industry executive Barry Diller. This network was the over-the-air broadcasting arm of USA Network....
.
Early life
Diller was born and raised in San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, the son of Reva (née Addison) and Michael Diller. He began his career through a family connection in the mailroom of the William Morris Agency
William Morris Agency
WME is the largest talent agency in the world, with offices in Beverly Hills, New York City, Nashville, London, and Miami. WME represents elite artists from all facets of the entertainment industry, including motion pictures, television, music, theatre, publishing, and physical production...
after dropping out of UCLA after one semester. He was hired as an assistant by Elton Rule, then west coast head of ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
who was promoted to network President at the same time Diller went to work for him in 1964, taking him on to New York, and Diller was soon placed in charge of negotiating broadcast rights to feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
s. He was promoted to Vice President of Development in 1965. In this position, Diller created the ABC Movie of the Week, pioneering the concept of the made-for-television movie
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
through a regular series of 90-minute films produced exclusively for television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
.
Paramount
Diller served for ten years as the Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerChief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
of Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
Corporation starting in 1974. With Diller at the helm, the studio produced hit television programs such as Laverne & Shirley
Laverne & Shirley
Laverne & Shirley is an American television situation comedy that ran on ABC from January 26, 1976, to May 10, 1983...
(1976), Taxi
Taxi (TV series)
Taxi was an American sitcom that originally aired from 1978 to 1982 on ABC and from 1982 to 1983 on NBC. The series, which won 18 Emmy Awards, including three for "Outstanding Comedy Series", focuses on the everyday lives of a handful of New York City taxi drivers and their abusive dispatcher...
(1978), and Cheers
Cheers
Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC, and was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles...
(1982) and films ranging from Saturday Night Fever
Saturday Night Fever
Saturday Night Fever is a 1977 drama film directed by John Badham and starring: John Travolta as Tony Manero, an immature young man whose weekends are spent visiting a local Brooklyn discothèque; Karen Lynn Gorney as his dance partner and eventual friend; and Donna Pescow as Tony's former dance...
(1977), and Grease
Grease (musical)
Grease is a 1971 musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The musical is named for the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as the greasers. The musical, set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School , follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of love,...
(1978) to Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raiders of the Lost Ark is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by George Lucas, and starring Harrison Ford. It is the first film in the Indiana Jones franchise...
(1981) and its sequel Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a 1984 American adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. It is the second film in the Indiana Jones franchise and prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark . After arriving in India, Indiana Jones is asked by a desperate village to find a mystical stone...
(1984) to Terms of Endearment
Terms of Endearment
Terms of Endearment is a 1983 romantic comedy-drama film adapted by James L. Brooks from the novel by Larry McMurtry and starring Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, and Jack Nicholson...
(1983) and Beverly Hills Cop
Beverly Hills Cop
Beverly Hills Cop is a 1984 American comedy-action film directed by Martin Brest and starring Eddie Murphy, Lisa Eilbacher, John Ashton, Judge Reinhold, and Ronny Cox...
(1984).
Fox
From October 1984 to April 1992, he held the positions of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fox, Inc, parent company of Fox Broadcasting CompanyFox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
and 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
, where he greenlighted hits like The Simpsons. Diller quit 20th Century Fox in 1992 and purchased a $25 million stake in QVC
QVC
QVC is a multinational corporation specializing in televised home shopping. Founded in 1986 by Joseph Segel in West Goshen Township, Pennsylvania, United States, QVC broadcasts in five countries as QVC US, QVC UK, QVC Germany, QVC Japan and – QVC Italy to 200 million households...
teleshopping network. Diller then launched a bid to purchase Paramount Communications
Gulf+Western
Gulf and Western Industries, Inc., for a number of years known as Gulf+Western, was an American conglomerate.- History :Gulf and Western's prosaic origins date to a manufacturer named Michigan Bumper Co. founded in 1934, though Charles Bluhdorn treated his 1958 takeover of what was then Michigan...
, but lost it to Viacom. Diller resigned from QVC in 1995.
USA Broadcasting
In 1997, Diller acquired the assets of Silver King Broadcasting, the collective group of over-the-air TV stations owned by then Bud PaxsonBud Paxson
Lowell W. "Bud" Paxson is an American media executive.A native of Florida, Paxson began his career at a little 500 watt radio station in upstate New York, and later as the owner of a small AM radio station, WWQT 1470 AM, in Clearwater, Florida. There, in 1977, an advertiser had plenty of product...
's Home Shopping Network
Home Shopping Network
Home Shopping Network or HSN began in 1977 as a 24-hour/7 day a week home shopping television network televised via cable, satellite, and some terrestrial channels in the Philippines. HSN can also be shopped online at hsn.com...
as well as the Home Shopping Network itself. Along with this acquisition, Diller also purchased the rights to the USA Network
USA Network
USA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...
from the Bronfman family. Due to Home Shopping getting more notoriety on the cable networks from his former dealings with the QVC Network, Diller sought to repurpose the broadcast stations into independent, locally-run stations as part of a station group dubbed USA Broadcasting
USA Broadcasting
USA Broadcasting was an American media company owned by veteran entertainment industry executive Barry Diller. This network was the over-the-air broadcasting arm of USA Network....
of which the flagship station was WAMI-TV
WAMI-TV
WAMI-DT is the TeleFutura Network-owned television station for the Miami/Fort Lauderdale market. This station is currently owned by Univision and transmits Spanish language programming on channel 69.- Channel 69, WCIX translator channel :...
in Miami Beach, Florida
Miami Beach, Florida
Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on a barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter which separates the Beach from Miami city proper...
.
The purpose of the network was to have the flagship, WAMI, produce sports and news programming while testing general interest programming for the other stations in the group, of which the general interest programming would be locally produced by the other stations in the group. Due to the high costs involved with producing and acquiring talent for shows outside the typical areas of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, plus the significantly low ratings such shows received in Miami Beach, the remaining shows were moved to Los Angeles to regain traction, but never did. Diller eventually sold the TV assets to Univision
Univision
Univision is a Spanish-language television network in the United States. It has the largest audience of Spanish language television viewers according to Nielsen ratings. Randy Falco, COO, has been in charge of the company since the departure of Univision Communications president and CEO Joe Uva...
after rejecting a bid from The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
. The USA Network and its assets were later sold off to Vivendi
Vivendi
Vivendi SA is a French international media conglomerate with activities in music, television and film, publishing, telecommunications, the Internet, and video games. It is headquartered in Paris.- History :...
. Diller retained the assets of the Home Shopping Network and the subsequent Internet assets he acquired later to bolster the HSN Online stable that later became IAC/InterActiveCorp
IAC/InterActiveCorp
InterActiveCorp is an American internet company with over 50 brands across 40 countries headquartered in New York City...
.
2000s
Expedia
Expedia is an Internet-based travel website based in the US with localised sites for 21 countries...
and the Chairman of IAC/InterActiveCorp
IAC/InterActiveCorp
InterActiveCorp is an American internet company with over 50 brands across 40 countries headquartered in New York City...
, an interactive commerce conglomerate and the parent of companies including ServiceMagic
ServiceMagic
ServiceMagic is a website operated by InterActiveCorp , in which homeowners in the United States and Canada are referred to home improvement contractors, who pay fees for leads. Contractors are pre-screened for contractor licenses and insurance as well as criminal and financial issues. There is no...
, Match.com
Match.com
Match.com is an online dating company which reportedly has more than 20 million members, made up of a 49/51 male/female ratio, and Web sites serving 25 countries in more than 8 different languages. Its headquarters are in Dallas, Texas and the company also has offices in West Hollywood, Tokyo, Rio,...
, Citysearch
Citysearch
Citysearch is an online city guide that provides information about businesses in the categories of dining, entertainment, retail, travel, and professional services in cities throughout the United States. Visitors to each of Citysearch's local city guides will find contact information, maps, driving...
, and Connected Ventures, home of Vimeo
Vimeo
Vimeo is a video-sharing website on which users can upload, share, and view videos. It was founded by Zach Klein and Jake Lodwick in November 2004...
and CollegeHumor
CollegeHumor
CollegeHumor is a comedy website owned by InterActiveCorp and based in New York City. The site features daily original comedy videos and articles created by its in-house writing and production team, in addition to user-submitted videos, pictures, articles and links. In early 2009, CollegeHumor's...
. In 2005, IAC/InterActiveCorp acquired Ask.com
Ask.com
Ask is a Q&A focused search engine founded in 1996 by Garrett Gruener and David Warthen in Berkeley, California. The original software was implemented by Gary Chevsky from his own design. Warthen, Chevsky, Justin Grant, and others built the early AskJeeves.com website around that core engine...
, marking a strategic move into the Internet search category.
He stepped down as Chief Executive Officer of IAC/InterActiveCorp
IAC/InterActiveCorp
InterActiveCorp is an American internet company with over 50 brands across 40 countries headquartered in New York City...
on December 2, 2010.
Diller has been on the board of Coca-Cola
The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation and manufacturer, retailer and marketer of non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups. The company is best known for its flagship product Coca-Cola, invented in 1886 by pharmacist John Stith Pemberton in Columbus, Georgia...
since 2002. The new headquarters of IAC/InterActiveCorp
IAC/InterActiveCorp
InterActiveCorp is an American internet company with over 50 brands across 40 countries headquartered in New York City...
was designed by Frank Gehry
Frank Gehry
Frank Owen Gehry, is a Canadian American Pritzker Prize-winning architect based in Los Angeles, California.His buildings, including his private residence, have become tourist attractions...
and opened in 2007 at 18th Street and the West Side Highway in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood. The western half of the block is dedicated to the building which stands several stories taller than the massive Chelsea Piers
Chelsea Piers
Chelsea Piers is a series of piers on the West Side of Manhattan in New York City that was a passenger ship terminal in the early 1900s that was used by the RMS Lusitania and was the destination of the RMS Titanic....
Sporting complex just across the West Side Highway. The extra floors guarantee a panoramic Hudson River view from Diller's sixth-floor office.
In 2003, on the PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
TV program NOW with Bill Moyers, Diller vocalized a strong warning against media consolidation. In the interview he referred to media ownership by a few big corporations as an oligarchy
Oligarchy
Oligarchy is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with an elite class distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, commercial, and/or military legitimacy...
, saying the concentration strangles new ideas.
Diller was "the highest-paid executive [of 2005 fiscal year]" according to a report by The New York Times on Thursday, October 26, 2006 with a total compensation package in excess of $295 million. In an opinion article in the New York Times of Nov 7, 2006, Nicholas D. Kristof
Nicholas D. Kristof
Nicholas Donabet Kristof is an American journalist, author, op-ed columnist, and a winner of two Pulitzer Prizes. He has written an op-ed column for The New York Times since November 2001 and is known for bringing to light human rights abuses in Asia and Africa, such as human trafficking and the...
awarded him his annual Michael Eisner Award, consisting of a $5 shower curtain, for corporate rapacity and laziness.
"The Killer Dillers"
Diller is responsible for what the media dubs "The Killer Dillers" – people whom Diller mentored and who later became big-time media executives in their own right. Examples include Michael EisnerMichael Eisner
Michael Dammann Eisner is an American businessman. He was the chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company from 1984 until 2005.-Early life:...
(who was President & COO of Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
while Diller was Chairman & CEO of Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
, who went on to become Chairman & CEO of The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
), Dawn Steel
Dawn Steel
Dawn Steel was one of the first women to run a major Hollywood film studio. She was born as Dawn Spielberg in New York City and raised in the suburb Great Neck, Long Island. Her father changed the family name.- Career :Dawn Steel attended New York University but did not graduate...
(future head of Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
and the first woman to run a movie studio, who worked under Diller at Paramount), Jeffrey Katzenberg
Jeffrey Katzenberg
Jeffrey Katzenberg is an American film producer and CEO of DreamWorks Animation. He is perhaps most famous for his period as chairman of The Walt Disney Company's film division, and for producing DreamWorks animated films such as Shrek, Antz, The Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado, Chicken...
(head of PDI/DreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. is an American animation studio based in Glendale, California that creates animated feature films, television program and online virtual worlds...
, principal of DreamWorks SKG, former head of Walt Disney Studios, and a head of production of Paramount under Diller), Garth Ancier
Garth Ancier
Garth Ancier is a media executive best known for being one of only two people to have programmed three of the five US broadcast television networks .He is the former President of BBC Worldwide America and...
, President of BBC America, and Don Simpson
Don Simpson
Donald Clarence "Don" Simpson was an American film producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is known for producing such hits as Flashdance, Beverly Hills Cop, Top Gun and The Rock...
, who was President of Production at Paramount under Diller and Eisner, was also included – he later went on to run a production company based on the Disney lot with Jerry Bruckheimer
Jerry Bruckheimer
Jerome Leon "Jerry" Bruckheimer is an American film and television producer. He has achieved great success in the genres of action, drama, and science fiction. His best known television series are CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, Eleventh Hour, Without a Trace, Cold Case, The...
.
Diller worked with Stephen Chao
Stephen Chao
Stephen Chao is an American web entrepreneur and media industry executive. He has worked as the President of Fox Television, an independent television producer, President of USA Network, and co-founder of instructional video website WonderHowTo.com...
at Fox Television, whom he later hired as President of Programming and Marketing at USA Network. Julius Genachowski
Julius Genachowski
Julius Genachowski is an American lawyer and businessman. He became Federal Communications Commission Chairman on June 29, 2009.-Education:Genachowski grew up in Great Neck, New York. He attended yeshiva and studied in Israel...
, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
, served as Diller's General Counsel during their tenure at USA Broadcasting, and again as Chief of Business Operations and a member of Barry Diller's Office of the Chairman at IAC/InterActiveCorp
IAC/InterActiveCorp
InterActiveCorp is an American internet company with over 50 brands across 40 countries headquartered in New York City...
.
Personal life
In 2001, he married fashion designer Diane von FürstenbergDiane von Fürstenberg
Diane von Fürstenberg, formerly Princess Diane of Fürstenberg , is a Belgian-American fashion designer best known for her iconic wrap dress. She initially rose to prominence when she married into the German princely House of Fürstenberg, as the wife of Prince Egon of Fürstenberg...
. He is stepfather to Alexander von Furstenberg and Tatiana von Furstenberg
Tatiana von Fürstenberg
Tatiana Desirée Prinzessin zu Fürstenberg or Princess Tatiana Desirée zu Fürstenberg ) is an American rock singer and filmmaker - and daughter of fashion designers Diane and Egon von Fürstenberg-External links:...
.
Diller owns the worlds largest sailing yacht, the 92.92 metres (304.9 ft) Eos
Eos (yacht)
The Eos is a three-masted Bermuda rigged schooner. The ship is one of the largest private sailing yachts in the world, and as of 2009 was owned by movie and media billionaire Barry Diller, husband of fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg. According to a 2007 article in Harper's Bazaar, Eos...
.
He is a life-long Democrat and supporter of related political causes. As of April 2011, Diller's estimated net worth was $1.3 billion.
Further reading
- "Diller, Barry". The Museum of Broadcast Communications. Retrieved 14 July 2006.