*Diller's dangling empire

A federal judge next week could determine whether Barry Diller loses control of IAC/Interactive, the crazy-quilt company that he's been assembling - with only mixed results - for more than a decade. "It's very odd that two people who don't want to give up control of anything are giving control to a judge in Delaware," Diller said at a NY media event hosted by Variety. "The wonderful thing about Delaware is they do it quickly. They make a decision quickly." The other person in this is billionaire John Malone, head of Liberty Media and a major shareholder of IAC. He’s not at all happy about Diller's plan to spin off several IAC businesses, including the locally based Ticketmaster. Under the proposal, Liberty's voting power would be trimmed to about 30 percent from its current 62 percent. You can see the problem. It’s way too soon to prepare any Diller obits, but his tone has clearly changed from when Malone first filed suit and Diller quipped: “After reading this new salvo, I am beginning to think these people are insane.”

*Hope in the stars?: Celebrity astrologer Susan Miller says Diller's future is looking pretty good. "His progressed moon is in Aquarius and about to conjoin his sun in August 2008," she tells NY magazine. She says Diller will likely be in the news again this summer announcing a huge new venture. "Career wise, his chart shows steady development. Astrology is not destiny, but the study of cycles, so the choices will be up to him," says Miller.