Diller Joins the Layoff Fray, But Not How You Might Think

Media titan Barry Diller had choice words for CEOs who are dealing with layoffs: essentially stop yer whining.

Diller told a Reuters summit: “The idea of a company that’s earning money, not losing money, that’s not, let’s say
‘industrially endangered,’ to have just cutbacks so they can earn another $12 million or $20 million or $40 million in a year where no one’s counting is really a horrible act when you think about it on every level. First of all, it’s certainly not necessary. It’s doing it at the worst time. It’s throwing people out to a larger, what is inevitably a larger unemployment heap for frankly no good reason.”

He saved some vitriol for Hollywood: “Margins used to be very good in the movie business. They’re now, what, 4, 5 percent in a decent year, so where’s the joy in that? Is there really a joy in ‘Superman 17′ or ‘Iron Man 2′?”

…and its CEOs: “‘Mogul’ is yesterday. It just doesn’t apply. You use the word ‘mogul’ and what you do is conjure up the fantasy, the memory of when there were actual movie moguls who made their decisions, believed in what they did, were outsized personalities. There’s no outsized personalities in the movie business anymore.”

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