Voting Station

Barry Diller

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Entrepreneur

The Resume

    (February 2, 1942- )
    Born in San Francisco, California
    Vice President of Development (1965-73) and Vice President of Programming (1973-74) at ABC
    Chair and CEO of Paramount (1974-84)
    Chair and CEO of Fox, Inc. (1984-92)
    Founder of the Fox Broadcasting Company (1987)
    CEO of QVC (1992-94)
    Chair of IAC/InterActive Corp.
    Net worth: $3.1 billion (2018)
    Married designer <9989>Diane von Furstenberg (2001)

Why he might be annoying:

    He dropped put of UCLA after one semester.
    After leaving Fox, he tried to buy Paramount, but was outbid by Viacom's Sumner Redstone.
    He then tried to engineer a merger between QVC and CBS that was thwarted by Comcast, one of QVC's largest shareholders.
    He then unsuccessfully attempted to launch a fifth network that would focus on local programming.
    He was the most highly paid corporate executive of 2006, a year in which IAC's profits and stock value both dropped significantly.
    He has told reporters that if they write about his private life, 'I will kill you.'
    Probably not coincidentally, he is widely rumored (despite his marriage) to be a member of the 'Hollywood gay mafia.'

Why he might not be annoying:

    He worked his way up from the mailroom of the William Morris Agency.
    At ABC, he was instrumental in creating the TV mini-series and the 'Movie of the Week.'
    He mentored several future media moguls, including Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Dawn Steel.
    He has a sense of humor about being one of the inspirations for Mr. Burns in The Simpsons.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 14 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 11 Votes: 90.91% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 10 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 30 Votes: 50.0% Annoying