Word: diller
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...talk centered on financing the Comcast bid, with Brian Roberts nonetheless repeatedly asking, "Are we doing this only because we're angry?" After securing a $1 billion line of credit from the Bank of New York last Monday, the Robertses were ready to strike. They began placing calls to Diller at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, hoping to arrange a meeting at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel that evening. Discovering that Diller was en route to New York City from Los Angeles with CBS entertainment president Howard Stringer and others, father and son hastily arranged to meet the plane at an airport...
...Robertses' bid ruptured a partnership with Diller that began when Brian Roberts brought the former head of Paramount studios and Fox broadcasting to QVC in December 1992. "Brian was very taken with Barry," says a cable-TV executive, "because when Barry turns on the charm, he can be quite impressive and effective. You have this older guy and this younger kid, and what really must have hurt is when Barry did an about-face. If he had gone to the Robertses and made them feel a part of the CBS deal, this might not have happened...
...Still, Diller haggled with CBS over the treatment of options to buy 6 million shares of QVC stock. While Diller wanted to swap half the options for new ones in the merged company, Tisch balked at raising the issue before the deal was complete. Diller dropped his request, but it rankled the Tisch camp. "After they got engaged," says a source close to Tisch, "Diller demanded the dowry...
...that hardly ends the story. Diller seemed prepared to foil Comcast last week by actively seeking higher offers for QVC from telephone companies and other cable concerns. And even if no one else comes along, Diller can console himself with the $100 million or so that he stands to make by selling his QVC holdings to Comcast. But that is not likely to calm a restless Diller. "Barry's not a pig," says his close friend Diane Von Furstenberg. "The money is a consequence, but not his first goal. Barry has always fulfilled his dreams...
...fact, Diller could still wind up at CBS, perhaps by forming an investment group that buys the company. CBS insiders seemed open to such a possibility. "I think we gotta let the dust settle for a little while," says the source close to Tisch. But whether or not Diller ultimately joins CBS, the network of William Paley, Edward R. Murrow and Murder, She Wrote seems virtually certain to change hands before too many more seasons...