Barry Diller shares why his deal to buy MGM fell apart

• Barry Diller says he tried to buy all of MGM because real-world experiences like a trip to Las Vegas are a strong hedge against AI.
• He said the deal fell apart because he didn’t want to take on debt or raise money from third parties.
• Diller spoke to Chief Correspondent Peter Kafka at Business Insider’s The Long Play.

Media mogul Barry Diller thinks businesses that operate in the real world have a strong protective moat against AI.

That was the inspiration for his company People Inc.’s June bid for MGM Resorts International’s casino and hotel business, which he called “forever assets.”

As some consumers turn to AI chatbots to complete tasks like buying plane tickets or managing subscriptions, digital-only businesses could get boxed out. That creates real risks for internet brands like Expedia Inc., where Diller is an investor and board member. It’s less of a problem for companies whose businesses exist in the real world, he said.

Nothing is going to replace Las Vegas, Diller said — and no one’s going to buy another one. Gaming is only part of the equation, he said.

“No disintermediation is coming between a person who wants to go to a place, and that place,” he said, speaking to BI’s Chief Correspondent Peter Kafka at Business Insider’s The Long Play event in New York on Thursday.

People Inc. first took a 27% stake in MGM in 2020. The company, which operates magazines such as Food & Wine, People, and Southern Living, later offered to buy the Las Vegas brand outright in June but withdrew its bid in September.

Diller said the deal fell apart after he became uncomfortable with the proposed structure, which involved taking on debt and asking third parties for money.

MGM later offered to buy People Inc. instead, but told investors on Wednesday that it had shelved the plan. Diller said it was “highly unlikely” that MGM was interested in People’s magazine assets, but rather it had hoped to buy back People’s MGM shares.

People remains MGM’s largest investor, though it has agreed not to buy more than a 29.9% stake in the company and to vote with MGM’s board in connection with a change-of-control transaction.

People, which, beyond its magazine portfolio, also owns stakes in The Daily Beast and the car-rental company Turo, laid off 195 workers on Thursday, per a memo from CEO Neil Vogel, which Business Insider viewed. The vast majority of whom work on its “print and legacy web businesses,” the memo said. The company has “added 320 new employees so far in 2026,” it said.

Diller told Kafka that the layoffs were a sign of a healthy company that has a profitable print business in a “steady kind of decline.”

“We’ve been transferring out people in these legacy businesses and transferring in people to do the new work,” he said.

Diller is a longtime media operator. He served as chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures in the 1970s and 80s, before joining Fox Inc. and helping to start Fox Broadcasting with Rupert Murdoch in the mid-1980s. He then worked at QVC before serving as CEO of IAC and taking on roles at Expedia Group. He is on the board of directors at MGM.