Word: diller
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...meeting crackled with all the tension of a scene from Barbarians at the Gate. Two months before the battle for Paramount Communications lit up Hollywood and Wall Street this fall, Paramount chairman Martin Davis summoned Barry Diller to a lunch at Paramount headquarters in New York City. The two men had rarely spoken since Davis forced out Diller as head of Paramount's film studio a decade ago. Now Davis demanded to know whether Diller's QVC shopping network was planning a takeover bid for Paramount. Diller none-too- ingenuously denied it. According to Diller, Davis then ended the meal...
...Diller did come after him, topping and then topping again the friendly offers from MTV-owner Viacom that Paramount had accepted. And in a ruling that Davis had clearly dreaded, the Delaware Supreme Court last week upheld a lower-court decision that ordered Paramount's board to give serious consideration to Diller's bid of $10.1 billion, or about $85 a share at recent market prices, along with Viacom's offer of $9.5 billion, or about $79.35 a share. The ruling struck down the defenses that Paramount and Viacom had erected against competing bidders and, in effect, placed Paramount...
...chairman of cable-TV giant Tele-Communications Inc., testified in a deposition that "one would have a hard time paying more than $75 a share" for Paramount. Malone is no casual observer: he reportedly offered Davis $70 a share for Paramount three years ago. Malone had also backed Diller's bid for Paramount through TCI's Liberty Media programming unit before Liberty agreed to sell its 22% stake in QVC last month...
Paramount said its board would meet to set up a procedure to consider bids from all interested parties. So unless Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone decides to raise his bid, his company could be the loser. Diller, who watched the hearing on television from QVC's West Chester, Pennsylvania, offices, said he was "delighted" with the ruling. "Obviously he's very happy," said designer Diane von Furstenberg, a confidant. Yet neither she nor Diller was ready to declare final victory in the Paramount struggle. "Nothing is ever a fait accompli in life," Von Furstenberg said. "Only the future will tell...
Unlike most people with a celebrated clientele, Fischler freely offers his opinions of his customers. Asked about the battle over Paramount, he picks Barry Diller (back booth, Sunday mornings) to prevail. "He's a sharp, bright, aggressive barracuda, but he treats everyone here as equals," says Fischler. Pet peeves include stars accompanied by entourages, such as Sylvester Stallone. "He brought three bodyguards with him and insisted that all the nearby tables be kept empty." Even Schwarzenegger, who has his own restaurant in nearby Ocean Park, isn't spared. "Arnold is a good friend," Fischler says with a sigh...