Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp, acquired a controlling stake in the Newsweek/Daily Beast Co., a media company formed last year from the merger of an online news startup and Newsweek magazine.

"We've acquired a controlling interest and it's not material to our earnings," said Justine Sacco, a spokeswoman for New York-based IAC. Reuters previously reported on the move.

The deal would appear to diminish the control by the estate of stereo-equipment magnate Sidney Harman, who in 2010 agreed -- for the reported price of $1 plus the assumption of liabilities -- to buy the ailing Newsweek from Washington Post Co. Since that time Mr. Harman agreed to allow Mr. Diller's company to merge its web-based Daily Beast with the venerable newsweekly and place editor Tina Brown -- best known for her days at Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and Talk -- at the helm. Mr. Harman died in April of 2011.

-- Bloomberg News --