Liberty Media, the conglomerate controlled by John Malone, made a $1 billion bid Thursday to buy Barnes & Noble. The bricks-and-mortar bookstore business is declining everywhere, so for Malone's gamble is to pay off, the Nook will have to gain some ground against Apple's iPad and Amazon's Kindle.
The IAC/InteractiveCorp chief is turning over the corner office to Greg Blatt, the 42-year-old CEO of IAC's Match.com and taking the position of chairman. Also, the Internet company announced it has bought out its major stockholder, John Malone's Liberty Media.
Media tycoon John Malone built Liberty Global into $6.5 billion global cable company through aggressive acquisition. But when a great deal comes along, Malone can be a seller too. This week, he sold his 37.8% stake of Jupiter Telecommunications for $4 billion to Japanese mobile phone company KDDI.
