DAILY
RECORD / BUSINESS WEEK -- Apr 13 -- Diller was born in San Francisco,
the son of a wealthy real-estate developer, and he was not a good
student. At Beverly Hills High, he was fired from the newspaper for his
frequent absences. At age 19, he dropped out of UCLA. Why had he and so
many other CEOs, such as Bill Gates, not graduated? "We're
nonconformists. We're impatient. I didn't want to say yes in a room at
a desk for four years." Diller has gone from the mailroom of the
William Morris Agency to ABC to chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures
("Raiders of the Lost Ark") to the Fox Broadcasting under Rupert
Murdoch. Sometimes Diller had trouble expressing himself and sometimes
he succumbed to clich�ish thinking and occasionally even contradicted
himself. But he clearly is very intelligent. His comments: ON MURDOCH: "I'm a frightened Tweetiecat compared to him. He's real savvy. He can take an opportunity and make it happen." ON ONLINE DATING:"For certain people, it's a better way than randomly meeting someone
across a room. It's magical. It's a great service. It's led to an
incredible number of marriages." "Would he consider launching
divorce.com? the moderator asked facetiously. No, but "We're working on conflict resolution." ON JACK WELCH (consultant to IAC):"He's the greatest manager I know, without question - with his
experience, his spirit and his energy. He keeps yelling at me, telling
me what to do. He's taught me to have a nonbureaucratic infrastructure
and make it work. When I'm in a room with my colleagues, he's the CEO. ON SELLING EXPEDIA: It's so large, it has been dominating the company. ON WHY HIS COMPANIES HAVE HIGH TURNOVER:"I believe in conflict. I like people arguing passionately about what
they think is true - when there isn't enough information. Some people
don't like that atmosphere - noisy and harsh. I'm not changing
it." FULL ARTICLE @ DAILY RECORD