Barry Diller might have won control over e-commerce company IAC/InterActiveCorp from rival John Malone in court Friday, but the CEO’s real trials have just begun. With the economy tanking and credit markets tightening, Diller’s plan to break up IAC into five “baby Barrys”—including Ticketmaster and the Home Shopping Network—might be tough to pull off, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The timing of the battle with Malone stalled one deal to break up $6 billion IAC—the spinoff of Interval International, a time-share company—and cooled talks to sell Ticketmaster. HSN and Lending Tree are struggling and won’t be easy sells. Web properties, like Ask.com, remain on the block as Diller tries to turn around company, whose stock is off 36% since November. (More Barry Diller stories.)