Malone attacks Diller in court

The media mogul John Malone made a courtroom attack yesterday on his business partner Barry Diller, saying Mr Diller's use of corporate aircraft and his super-size pay packages "pushed the boundaries" of acceptable executive behaviour.

The two men are facing off in a Delaware court over Mr Malone's attempt to oust Mr Diller from control of the IAC/InterActiveCorp media empire. Mr Malone is angry at Mr Diller's plan to split IAC - home to the Ticketmaster ticket agency and Ask.com, among other internet properties - into five smaller companies, which he says would unfairly reduce the influence of his Liberty Media, which has a minority stake in IAC.

A $275m () fee Mr Diller reaped as a consultant in a deal involving Vivendi "raised eyebrows", Mr Malone said, and he noted the fee was on top of $1.1bn in compensation from IAC since 2000. Mr Diller's trips on the company's jets also "pushed the boundaries" of what was appropriate.

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