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A. Davis: I wouldn't have done a thing differently. Seriously. What we did was the right thing in our view, and I would do it again today. I could not conceive of it coming out the way it did.
Q. TIME: Did you know when you began your talks with Sumner that an aggressive competitor like Diller could try an end run?
A. Davis: No. Theoretically you always go into play when you do a transaction. That's par for the course. But we did not see it coming, in spite of what everybody else thinks we saw. Nobody perceived, including our bankers -- but I'm not going to blame this on bankers -- that there was another valid bid out there that could match the power of the two companies coming together.
Q. TIME: Now that you are the auctioneer, does it make you sad that you won't be managing the assets you have built?
^ A. Davis: I would be misleading you tremendously if I said it doesn't bother me. I'm saddened by it, but I'm also happy with it. Because my first obligation and the obligation of the board has been to get value. We've achieved something, and of that I am very proud. When I do leave here, I'm going to leave behind assets that weren't here in 1983, including a balance sheet that was tottering on the brink of bankruptcy and is now very strong.
Q. TIME: Has this been a personality-driven contest?
A. A. Davis: Only in the media. I think the media have seized upon it, and "nemesis" has been given a new meaning. I think it's totally exaggerated. I think if you put Barry Diller and myself out in the ring in Madison Square Garden, you'd have 12 people show up, all from the New York press. Who cares? He and I have a cordial relationship, and we have had one for some time.
Q. TIME: What are the origins of your dispute with Diller in the early '80s at Paramount?
A. Davis: I had a style. I make no apologies for it, and I could be very tough about it, and I would insist on certain things because I wanted this company to survive. Now, some of us had differences of opinion, and I daresay Barry Diller was not the only one who left at that time. The only difference is that in the motion picture business in Hollywood, if somebody gets a scratch, right away it's cancer.
Q. TIME: Have you talked to Sumner Redstone since the board meeting Wednesday?
A. Davis: I talked to him. I talked to Barry, I called them both.
Q. TIME: Can you tell us about those calls?
A. Davis: I called Barry to congratulate him and told him we had reaffirmed our recommendation for QVC, and I called Sumner and told him the same thing.
Q. TIME: How did they react? Sumner could not have been very happy.
A. Davis: I don't think he was surprised, but again I can't speak for him. He acted professionally. He did not raise his voice, he did not get excited. I think he understood. At least I hope he did.
Q. TIME: How often do you talk to Barry?
A. Davis: Yesterday I talked to him three times. I haven't talked to him today. I will see him next week.
Q. TIME: What kinds of things are discussed? Are you talking about nuts and bolts, transition?