Liberty Media Corp. (LINTA) has bought another $340 million in shares from Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI), to bring its stake in the company to 30 percent, up from the former 25 percent position they held.
According to Liberty, they purchased the 14 million shares at $24.25 a share because the price was attractive at that level.
This is all probably a step toward some other deal or deals between the two companies, as Liberty has been interested in the home-shopping network in the past, which will be part of the spin-off IAC will be putting into action this summer. Other companies being spun off will be Interval, Ticketmaster and LendingTree.
There is speculation that one or more of those companies may be acquired before even being spun off, with Liberty being one of the potential suitors.
In another aspect of the purchase, Liberty said they won't purchase any more shares of IAC (standstill agreement) until either after the changes are made in the company or April 15, 2009.
IAC also bought back 6 million shares at the same price Liberty paid for them. Diller retains the voting rights to the Liberty shares.
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