Diller Sells 1.5% Stake in Vivendi
Barry Diller, who controls Internet commerce company InterActiveCorp, sold his personal stake in Vivendi Universal Entertainment for $275 million after Vivendi Universal exercised a call right.
Paris-based Vivendi, which completed the sale of its U.S. media assets to General Electric Co.’s NBC on Wednesday, bought Diller’s 1.5% stake, Vivendi Chief Operating Officer Jean-Bernard Levy said. InterActiveCorp will keep its 5.4% stake in the entertainment unit, which is being folded into the new NBC Universal, he said.
The company and Diller are unwinding ownerships that stem from 2002, when Jean-Marie Messier, Vivendi’s former chief executive, bought InterActiveCorp’s cable TV and movie assets for $10.3 billion.
Vivendi and Diller are still embroiled in a suit over cash payments Diller claims Vivendi owes to cover InterActiveCorp taxes on its stake.
“The tax liability is still outstanding,” Levy said. “We expect this to be resolved but we can’t state how long it will take. We’ve not provided for it in the balance sheet, as we think it has no merit.”
Vivendi’s liability over the next 20 years might reach $620 million, according to an InterActiveCorp suit filed last year.
Diller couldn’t be reached for comment.
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