By Miguel Mike Medina
Photo Credit: PHOTO BY EMMA MCINTYRE/GETTY IMAGES
Barry Diller’s People Inc. seeks full ownership of casino giants MGM Resorts. The billionaire proposes a $18 billion deal to take over the entire MGM.
Diller’s company already holds a 26 percent stake. In April 2026, Diller’s IAC Interactive changed its name to People Inc., after the magazine Diller owns.
It’s not the first time we hear Diller wanting to take over a company. Diller did an interview with Graham Bensinger and discussed the possibility of running CNN.
“For the last couple of years, probably the chances of my being able to get it are at best 30 to 40 percent,” Diller said. “But for the last couple of years, I’ve been very interested because I do think that I don’t know if it gets because the people are I don’t know haven’t are untalented or whatever. I think the people who run CNN have been squeezed, and I think it hasn’t been managed optimally. You go anywhere in the world, and the video news service is and has been CNN. So I think it has enormous potential influence. I think it would be very worthwhile to be really fully competitive.”
Seizing the golden opportunity would be the way for Diller to buy CNN. We don’t know if he is still fully blown, all-in on CNN, now that we are learning about MGM. His interview with Graham was published two months ago, but this is what Diller had to say.
“The seller becomes a seller instead of someone who says, ‘I want to keep it,” Diller said.
Diller has an interesting relationship with top executives David Zaslav and John Malone. Diller also wrote a memoir titled “Who Knew?”, released in May 2025. Diller is a person who holds nothing back.
“I’ve said this to David Zaslav and to John Malone,” Diller begins to explain. “David has disagreed with me, as he honorably has, of course, the right to do so, where I’ve said to him, “I don’t think your programming, I don’t think it’s being optimally programmed. I don’t think it’s competitive.” The facts support that. Its ratings have declined. Its revenue has declined. It’s still quite profitable.”
Diller has gone on a bidding war with the Viacom company. However, he did not make the last bid.
“If I had made the last bid, I would’ve owned Paramount.”
Miguel Mike Medina is the publisher of The MMM Journal. He can be reached at medinamiguelmike@gmail.com and themmmjournal@gmail.com
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