Editing QVC (section)

====Failed Paramount takeover bid====
QVC, under Diller, first placed a hostile $9.6 billion bid for Paramount in September 1993, when talks for a friendly merger between Paramount and [[Viacom (1952–2006)|Viacom]], worth $7.2 billion at the time, were already under way.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Fabrikant |first1=Geraldine |title=Paramount to Weight QVC Talks |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/11/business/paramount-to-weigh-qvc-talks.html |access-date=19 April 2020 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=11 Oct 1993 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180117073623/http://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/11/business/paramount-to-weigh-qvc-talks.html |archive-date=January 17, 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> QVC's more attractive bid was forced on Paramount in the February 4, 1994 decision of [[Paramount Communications, Inc. v. QVC Network, Inc.]] by the [[Delaware Supreme Court]]. Following Viacom's merger with [[Blockbuster LLC|Blockbuster]] that gave Viacom the financial lead, Diller proposed that QVC financial backer [[BellSouth]] could buy QVC shares after the merger to boost the value of QVC's stock to Paramount shareholders.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Fabrikant |first1=Geraldine |title=QVC Wins BellSouth's Help in Bid |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/12/business/the-media-business-qvc-wins-bellsouth-s-help-in-bid.html |access-date=19 April 2020 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=12 Nov 1993 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180117210130/http://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/12/business/the-media-business-qvc-wins-bellsouth-s-help-in-bid.html |archive-date=January 17, 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> Diller dropped the proposal when reminded of its legal challenges and on February 14, 1994, QVC lost its bid for Paramount to a $9.85 billion bid from Viacom.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Britell |first1=Penny |title=Viacom wraps Par marathon |url=https://variety.com/1994/biz/news/viacom-wraps-par-marathon-118377/ |access-date=20 April 2020 |publisher=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=15 Feb 1994}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Fabrikant |first1=Geraldine |title=Paramount-QVC Talks Said to Be Unproductive |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/02/business/the-media-business-paramount-qvc-talks-said-to-be-unproductive.html |access-date=19 April 2020 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=11 Nov 1993 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180118183746/http://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/02/business/the-media-business-paramount-qvc-talks-said-to-be-unproductive.html |archive-date=January 18, 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> Diller's reported five-word response to the end of what ''[[The Los Angeles Times]]'' called "the biggest takeover war of the 1990s" was: "They won. We lost. Next."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bates |first1=James |title=Paramount Deal: As Show Closes, a Look at the Script |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-02-16-mn-23560-story.html |access-date=19 April 2020|newspaper=[[The Los Angeles Times]] |date=16 Feb 1994}}</ref>