During a roller-coaster career over three decades, Barry Diller has had his fair share of successes and failures - but always a seat at the top table.
Mr Diller made his name in the early 1970s at the US television network ABC, where he pioneered concepts such as the "Movie of the Week" and the mini-series.
He became chairman of Paramount Studios in 1974 at the age of 32. During the subsequent period, the studio turned out hits including Saturday Night Fever and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
He quit Paramount in 1984 to join Fox studios, spearheading Rupert Murdoch's ultimately successful drive to turn it into the fourth US national broadcast network. Mr Diller left Fox in 1992, saying that he wanted to become an entrepreneur.
Few predicted where he would turn up next - QVC, the home shopping channel. The move signalled Mr Diller's conversion to interactive services.QVC made an audacious 5.9 billion bid for US broadcast network CBS in 1994. Terms were agreed, but the deal was derailed when Comcast, the US cable operator, working with John Malone's Liberty Media, bought QVC instead.
Mr Diller's next venture, USA Networks, a collection of assets including the subscription channels Sci-Fi and USA Network, the Home Shopping Network, and commerce sites such as Ticketmaster and Hotel Reservations Network, was a more clear-cut success.
Vivendi later bought the entertainment assets of USA Networks for 11.2 billion. Mr Diller became chairman of Vivendi Universal Entertainment while continuing to run the unsold businesses as USA Networks Interactive. Following a cash crisis, Vivendi agreed to sell VUE to NBC. USA Interactive was later renamed IAC.
In 2003, IAC generated underlying operating income of more than 338 million, up from €129 million the previous year. Sales rose 47 per cent to 3.3 billion. Mr Diller also oversaw 6.3 billion of acquisitions, consolidating control of subsidiaries such as Ticketmaster and Expedia, and buying LendingTree, the discount travel website Hotwire.com and Anyway.com.
