Will Disney buy this?

[manning]

Here is a bit of speculation from a business week online article concerning some pros thoughts That Disney might buy InterActiveCorp

http://biz.yahoo.com/bizwk/040227/b3873126mz027_2.html

This is a Barry Diller Company.

InterActiveCorp is Barry Diller's online travel, hotel, financial, and TV home-shopping outfit, and CEO Diller could be a big reason Disney boss Michael Eisner may be after it. Both men have deep roots in entertainment -- and they're buddies. Part of a deal could be for Diller to succeed Eisner in a year or two, thus cooling the boiling issue of succession at Disney -- and discourage Comcast from reigniting its rejected all-stock bid for Disney. One pro who thinks Disney will move on InterActiveCorp and promise Diller the top job is Alec Cutler of Brandywine Asset Management, which owns shares in InterActive, Disney, and Comcast. InterActive hit 42 in July.

 

[raidermatt]

I wouldn't rule out any possibility when it comes to Eisner trying to save his rump.

However, they do need to be careful... Any purchase that the shareholders view as a defensive move that is not in their best interests would only increase the opposition to Eisner.

I'm not saying this automatically qualifies, but if Disney is considering this, does anyone really think they would have been doing it without the takeover attempt?