Barry Diller wants to take MGM Resorts private. The 84-year-old media and digital executive’s company, People Incorporated, proposed Monday acquiring the remaining stake it does not own in the casino operator in a deal valued at approximately $12.4 billion. The bid comes as People Incorporated already holds 26.1% of MGM Resorts; completing the transaction would make the casino giant the dominant asset within Diller’s conglomerate.
MGM’s market capitalization stood at roughly $11.2 billion before the offer was announced, more than three times the size of People Incorporated. Diller said bringing MGM fully under the company’s ownership would provide a structural hedge for the group’s publishing operations, which have come under sustained pressure from AI-driven shifts in digital advertising and search traffic. He told The Wall Street Journal that he had been considering a move for the casino company over the past six months.
“While everyone was running into all sorts of ‘AI opportunities,’ I wanted to run the other way,” Diller said in an interview. “It wasn’t hard for me to find MGM, where no one is going to get in between those resorts and consumers until we get to the final simulation.”
Diller has a career history of large-scale industry pivots. He began at the mailroom of the William Morris Agency and later launched ABC’s “Movie of the Week” in the late 1960s. He ran Paramount Pictures for a decade starting in 1974, overseeing releases that included “Saturday Night Fever” and entries in the “Indiana Jones” and “Star Trek” franchises. In 1984 he joined Fox, where he worked with Rupert Murdoch to build a fourth broadcast network that debuted in 1986 with shows such as “The Simpsons” and “Married…with Children.”
He left Fox in 1992 at age 50 and founded IAC in 1995, amassing a portfolio of internet-era companies including the dating site Match in 1999 and the travel platform Expedia, which IAC acquired after the September 11, 2001, attacks halted flights and suppressed travel demand. “I remember Barry said, ‘If there is civilization, there will be travel,’” recalled Jon Miller, a former senior IAC executive. “He has a history of making smart, contrarian bets.”
In 2021 the conglomerate acquired magazine publisher Meredith, adding titles including People, Food & Wine and Better Homes & Agriculture to its roster. The company rebranded as People Incorporated in April 2026, said it would cut staff and narrow its focus, spun off its stake in Angi last year, and agreed in March to sell Care.com to a private-equity buyer. “I’m willing to change anything on a dime if I see an opportunity,” Diller told the Journal.
People Incorporated said MGM cannot realize its full potential while trading as a public company. Diller has pointed to BetMGM, the group’s online casino business, as part of the deal’s rationale. The unit reported a $440 million loss two years ago but has since returned to profitability. “I don’t mind competition,” Diller said. “We’re going to do fine.”
The legacy casino industry faces headwinds from digital competitors including DraftKings, FanDuel and prediction-market platforms Kalshi and Polymarket. Las Vegas tourism has slipped after a post-pandemic surge, with consumers reacting to higher table-minimum bids and increased pricing for beverages and cabanas. MGM’s recent revenue growth has come from operations in China and regional casinos outside Las Vegas rather than from the Strip.
Michael Eisner, the former Disney chief executive who serves on IAC’s board, said Diller’s willingness to leave a powerful position at Fox and strike out on his own was notable. “It was incredibly gutsy,” Eisner said. Jason Blum, chief executive of Blumhouse and a friend of Diller’s, said, “It’s one thing to do it once, but it’s another thing to do it again and again. He follows his heart no matter what the noise is around him.”
Diller has also signaled interest in other media assets. He said at the Journal’s Future of Everything Festival last month that he would “absolutely” buy Warner Bros. Discovery’s CNN and that he had examined a deal for Vox Media, which owns New York magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network. Diller was not certain he would describe his career arc as reinvention. “I’ve had an endlessly long participation in the patch, as they say,” he said.