Match.com Appeal Hearing Tees Up Major Ruling on Insider Deals

Delaware’s top court showed flashes of skepticism and sympathy Wednesday as it heard legal arguments over billionaire Barry Diller’s spinoff of Match.com, a case expected to either streamline corporate dealmaking or uphold enhanced protections for minority investors in certain transactions favoring insiders.

The justices offered few hints to their thinking as Diller’s lawyers defended the transaction—which separated Match Group Inc. from his IAC/Interactive Corp.—during a roughly hourlong hearing. They appeared by turns receptive and critical toward his arguments and those from attorneys challenging the transaction on behalf of pension funds. A lower court judge ruled in favor of Diller ...