Comcast, the largest U.S. cable TV operator, might have had a strong first quarter, started paying a dividend, and even be able to claim to be one of the best performing stocks in 2008 in its sector - but CEO Brian Roberts still couldn’t catch a break from shareholders at Wednesday’s annual general meeting.

Worker unions pointed out Roberts gets paid 964 times the average non-supervisory Comcast worker, while a shareholder advisory group demanded (as usual) that the company adopts a one-share one-vote structure and drops the 33-percent voting rights Roberts currently holds under the dual shares structure.

But worst of all for Roberts was the presence of Evelyn Davis, 78, the self proclaimed Queen of the corporate jungle, who dominated proceedings as usual by haranguing management over various obvious and sometimes obscure details about the business.

The colorful and acerbic Davis recently castigated Ford Motors for selling Jaguar and Land Rover to an Indian company Tata that she said sells cars to “low outcasts”.

On Wednesday she berated Roberts and management for their annual legal fees estimated at around $100 million.

“Lawyers are like taxi drivers they run up the meter instead of taking you to your destination,” Davis opined.

Ironically, the aggressive pensioner’s solution for reducing these lawyer bills? Try and settle things amicably she said.

And what about all those shareholder proposals to cut Roberts’  pay, and to reduce his controlling stake etc?

Plus ca change, as they say. 

The board got re-elected, adopted all company-sponsored proposals, and defeated all shareholder proposals.

Media titans John Malone and Barry Diller knew they had their fair share of disagreements over the years, but like many couples heading to divorce, they apparently needed someone else to tell them that.

Enter Wall Street Journal reporter Jessica Vascellaro.

The media industry read with rapt interest her story in October that put in plain language how much tension had built up between the two over their partnership in IAC/InterActiveCorp. 

But as the two moguls duke it out in Delaware court this week, they keep invoking that story, day after day, as the moment that sent their relationship past the point of no return. 

Diller apparently understood the story as grounds to endorse a control structure for a spin-off of IAC businesses that would dilute the grip of Malone’s Liberty Media over the units. And that is what brought them to court today.
 
“It was kind of a verification in his mind they had gone over a significant line and the possibility of doing a transaction beneficial to both sides was becoming highly unlikely,” IAC Vice Chairman Victor Kaufman said when asked by Liberty’s lawyers.
 
IAC’s lawyers made liberal use of the story as well, asking Liberty CEO Greg Maffei whether he orchestrated the original interviews with himself and a usually press-shy Malone to send a message to Diller. They asked Maffei whether he tried to influence that story by flying the New York-based reporter out to Denver and talking up his views of Diller over several hours of travel time.
 
Maffei rebuffed that idea, saying  he didn’t come up with the idea for the flight, that there were other people on the plane and most of the time they spent playing the card game “Oh, Heck”:
 
[We asked Dow Jones about the flight. Here’s their statement: “The Wall Street Journal attempted to reimburse Liberty for the flight, but the company subsequently returned the check. In keeping with our guidelines, we still intend to reimburse Liberty. We stand by the fairness and accuracy of our story.”]
 
After it appeared, Malone said he had already guessed Diller’s reaction:
“I thought Barry’s not going to like this when he sees it. (Did you call Diller?) I should have but I did not. Because when I read it, it came across not the way I would have liked it to come across. 
    
In the end I did call. It was roughly two months later. (Apparently Diller told Malone of his one share, one vote plan during that call)”

(Photo: Reuters / Maffei in Sun Valley 2007)

John Malone is famous in the media industry for his complex deal-making skills that have confounded some of the best minds in business. But he seemed almost forlorn in Delaware court today when talking about the unraveling of his relationship with Barry Diller, the former television and film honcho who built up IAC/InterActiveCorp with his backing.About halfway through a rigorous cross examination by Marc Wolinsky, who was representing IAC, Malone’s responses gave us the impression that his lieutenant and CEO Greg Maffei had a hand in precipitating a difficult business dispute into all-out war. Here are some chapter headings from his direct testimony and cross-examination:The tension dates years back to Maffei’s role in Expedia’s sale to IAC. When Maffei was appointed CEO of Liberty Media in 2005, Malone said Diller branded it a “poor choice.”“I knew there was a history. I knew that Barry was complaining that there was no cooperation between Expedia and Hotels.com … he thought that was wrong. I’m not sure I was aware of any personality difference until much later.”By 2006, Maffei was making comments that questioned the solidity of Diller’s control over IAC, under a proxy agreement to vote Liberty shares. Barry had some feelings about that.“Mr Diller was very unhappy or upset that Mr Maffei would make these … claims or references, anything that would undermine his confidence that he had the voting power.”When Maffei and Liberty counsel suggested a way to weaken Diller’s proxy, Malone said he objected.“I told them that I regarded it as brain damage. (So what did you do when Maffei persisted in his argument?) I would assume that he has something in mind in terms of it being a viable legal argument, or because our lawyers are telling him they believe it’s a valuable and appropriate legal position.”By late 2007, Maffei took a more aggressive stance when it came to pushing Diller to compensate Liberty for the declining value of its IAC stake, Malone said.“I would say Mr Maffei believed it was in the interest of Liberty to try and separate our interests from IAC and Expedia. I think Mr Maffei can be pugilistic where these issues are concerned.”Because at the end of the day, Malone would be happy to make up with good ol’ Barry. Asked if he preferred to litigate their dispute in Colorado rather than Delaware, he said:“I didn’t want to have to sue Mr. Diller anywhere. I still hold him no ill-will and I still seek a win-win solution for our disputes. I don’t think any of us likes that we are having an open dispute after 13, 14 years of building value together.”Cue one Denver sunset please.(Photo: Reuters/John Randolph/ Liberty Media Corporation Chairman John Malone returns to Chancery court in Wilmington Delaware)