One rarely accumulates a net worth of $1.9 billion without breaking the rules. Repeatedly. IAC chairman Barry Diller has agreed to pay $480,000 in civil penalties for anti-trust violations related to his purchase of voting shares in Coca-Cola from 2010 to 2012.
But this is hardly Diller's first anti-trust rodeo.
According to the complaint (below), Diller committed a similar violation in 1998 when he purchased voting securities in CitySearch while chairman of USA Networks. In both cases, Diller violated premerger reporting and waiting requirements related to the HSR Act, which regulates mergers and acquisitions.
The Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act requires that parties notify the FTC and the Department of Justice of most large transactions that affect commerce in the United States. After doing so, parties must observe a waiting period before closing their transaction, while one of the two agencies determines whether the transaction may result in a substantial lessening of competition.
Back in 1998, the FTC did not seek civil penalties, but made Diller "accountable for instituting an effective program to ensure full compliance with the Act's requirements."
That slap on the wrist didn't sting quite enough, judging by his Coca Cola stock purchases:
According to the complaint, Diller, an investor with many holdings in media companies, acquired 120,000 shares of Coca Cola on November 1, 2010. As a result, he held voting securities of more than $63.4 million, the premerger reporting threshold under the HSR Act at the time. Between November 1, 2010, and April 26, 2012, Diller acquired an additional 605,000 shares of Coca Cola voting securities, but failed to submit the requisite HSR filings. In addition, on April 27, 2012, he acquired 264,000 more shares and again failed to meet his HSR filing requirements. Diller subsequently made corrective filings.
Companies and executives who violate the HSR Act rarely yield criminal charges. It seems the feds are hoping $480,000—about 0.025 percent of Diller's net worth—will be enough to make sure the media mogul doesn't sin again.
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