News Information and Media Site: Byers Market Exclusive: Barry Diller on Jeffrey Katzenberg, streaming wars and 2020

March 4, 2020

By DYLAN BYERS in Los Angeles &

AHIZA GARCÍA-HODGES in San Francisco

Good morning. 🇺🇸 Game change for Joe Biden. The delegate count (as of 12:01 a.m. PT) ... Biden: 423 ... Bernie Sanders: 330 ... Elizabeth Warren: 35 ... Mike Bloomberg: 17.

🥂 Tonight: Former Paramount chief Sherry Lansing will host a fundraiser for Biden at her home in L.A., per a source familiar.

Join the Market: 🗞️ Newsletter | 🎙️ Podcast

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🎙️ The Market Podcast

Barry Diller: Jeffrey Katzenberg 'naked out there' with Quibi

Moving the Market: Barry Diller, the Hollywood titan who once employed Jeffrey Katzenberg as his assistant, says his former protégé is standing "naked out there" as he prepares to launch Quibi, the short-form streaming service that has become the talk of Hollywood.

• "It's a giant and gutsy speculation," Diller, the chairman of IAC, says on the new episode of The Byers Market Podcast. "Most people... aren't overwhelmed by the idea, which makes it all the gutsier."

• "Whatever happens, he's so naked out there with this," Diller says. "You know, he's just standing there waiting for the tide to either come towards him or leave him naked on the beach."

The big picture: In the wide-ranging, hourlong discussion, Diller also touched on the Academy Awards ("They are either spot on, or completely weird"), Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg ("He's the opposite of evil") and Bernie Sanders' attacks on Mike Bloomberg's wealth ("What an idiot statement.")

• But Diller's main focus was the Hollywood streaming wars and the long-term prospects of companies like Apple and AT&T that are still finding their footing in an arena dominated by Netflix.

On Apple TV+: "It hasn't started yet," Diller says of the iPhone maker's foray into Hollywood. "They're still not in it with both feet... They've put some capital in, but relatively little. They're not making a major effort. ... They haven't decided yet."

On AT&T's HBO Max: "I don't think they're going to go out of business, but HBO ... should have been out there from the beginning competing with Netflix. ... Now they're trying... I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's awfully hard to do."

On Amazon Prime: "How do you compete with a business model that says ... I can outspend you on programming, not because of its popularity, but because of how many subscriptions it drives to Prime. That's like, oh my God."

Plus... Diller's thoughts on Netflix and Disney, the inevitable regulation of Silicon Valley and the early days of IAC.

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Regulation Watch

Diller: 'Google is a monopoly'

Big in the Bay: On the pod, Barry Diller also expresses his frustration with Google, which has leveraged its power as the dominant search engine to promote its own travel booking services and compete with Diller's Expedia Group.

• "Google is a monopoly," Diller says. "They are doing what is natural to monopolies, and they won't stop doing it until they get regulated, which they will. It's only to me a question of time."

The big picture: Diller believes Google will be regulated as a monopoly. "Google is not going to be brought to its knees," he says, "but it probably will be brought to its ankles."

😷 Tokyo Watch 😷

Brian Roberts, the chief executive of Comcast, NBCUniversal's parent company, says the company has insurance to mitigate losses if the 2020 Olympics are canceled because of coronavirus.

• Speaking at the Morgan Stanley TMT Conference in San Francisco, Roberts also said he's "optimistic" that the games will take place as scheduled this summer.

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Coronavirus cancellations

TikTok, Amazon out of SXSW

Cost of Coronavirus: TikTok and Amazon Studios have joined Facebook, Twitter and Intel in pulling out of South By Southwest due to concerns about coronavirus, putting additional pressure on organizers to reassess this year's conference.

• The big picture: Companies across the country and the world are restricting employee travel, cancelling annual conferences and taking additional precautions. Several major conferences are under threat, including SXSW and Cannes Lions.

The latest: Google and Facebook have cancelled their respective developer conferences — I/O and F8 — and both companies have put new restrictions on non-essential employee travel.

• Disney has cancelled a Disney+ launch event in London; Fox has pulled out of this week's Morgan Stanley TMT Conference; and Apple has restricted travel to Italy and South Korea.

• Twitter is encouraging its 5,000 global employees to work from home, and has made that policy mandatory for its employees in Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea.

What's next: On the content side, Zuckerberg says Facebook is working to provide users with "credible and accurate information" about coronavirus amid growing concerns about misinformation. "This is now a global challenge," he writes.

Market Links

• Mark Zuckerberg revamps Libra plans (Information)

• Marc Benioff swears off political donations (Recode)

• Jeff Bezos strikes deal for 21 Yankees games (Deadline)

• Jimmy Pitaro expands 'Undefeated' across Disney (SBJ)

• Chris Matthews' exit raises questions at MSNBC (THR)

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Full Court Press

President Trump sues WaPo

Big in the Beltway: "President Trump's re-election campaign sued The Washington Post for libel on Tuesday, citing two opinion articles from last year that linked Mr. Trump to Russian election interference," NYT's Marc Tracy reports.

• The big picture: "Mr. Trump's attacks on news organizations have been a defining mark of his presidency," and the action against WaPo comes just one week after Trump's campaign "filed a similar lawsuit against The New York Times."

What's next: A legal fight. "It's disappointing to see the president's campaign committee resorting to these types of tactics," Post spokesperson Kris Coratti said. "We will vigorously defend this case."

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About Last Night

Is Mike Bloomberg done?

Talk of the Trail: "Mike Bloomberg is reassessing whether to stay in the Democratic primary... and will meet with top advisers Wednesday morning in New York to discuss his next steps," my colleagues Josh Lederman, Maura Barrett and Lauren Egan report, citing senior campaign officials.

• "The campaign officials said no final decision had been made. Bloomberg, who flew from Florida back to New York City on Tuesday night, has no public events scheduled for Wednesday."

• "After pouring more than $500 million of his own money into his campaign, Bloomberg failed to meet the 15 percent threshold required to win delegates in most Super Tuesday states."

The big picture: Bloomberg tried to parlay three bets: that he could buy his way to the nomination with an unprecedented national ad spend; that his C.V. as a businessman, philanthropist and three-term mayor of New York would appeal to voters; and that there would be an opening for moderation and pragmatism in a race where Bernie Sanders was spooking the Democratic establishment.

• Needless to say, a lot had to fall his way. It didn't. He bombed his first debate. His wealth became a vulnerability, as did his past remarks about women and minorities. And, in the 11th hour, Joe Biden surged and consolidated the Democratic establishment.

What's next: Bloomberg is still in it, for now. "Despite the results Tuesday night," our colleagues report, "his campaign has invested $7 million in advertisements in states that vote after Super Tuesday."

• But it ain't looking great.