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It’s natural to wonder whether Liberty Media Chairman John Malone’s new acquisition of 27.3% of Charter Communications is merely Step One in a plan to make him a U.S. cable titan — the role he played until 1999 when he sold Tele-Communications Inc to AT&T. And while Liberty CEO Greg Maffei doesn’t predict that, he also didn’t rule it out today in a quarterly earnings call with analysts. He says that cable “could be in for a round of consolidation” at a time when it’s so inexpensive to borrow money and large companies covet opportunities to cut costs — for example by negotiating lower prices from programmers. He cryptically adds that even though Charter can do just fine as a stand-alone entity, “we’ll see” whether it ends up being “a consolidator or condolidatee.” Liberty’s stock purchase agreement gives it the right over time to raise its stake to 40%. Will it do so? “We’ll see what time holds,” Maffei says. READ MORE »
Liberty Media Says Revenues And Cash Flow Grew In Q1
Liberty Media is too important a company to ignore. But the Q1 earnings statement out this morning is a jumble after it spun off Starz and formally took control of Sirius XM. It reports net … Read More »
Former News Corp. Exec Tom Mockridge To Become CEO Of Virgin Media
Tom Mockridge, the former CEO of Rupert Murdoch’s News International, has been named successor to Virgin Media‘s outgoing CEO Neil Berkett. The UK’s Virgin Media is in the process of being acquired by … Read More »
Liberty Completes $2.6B Charter Purchase; John Malone Among Board Additions
Related: Liberty To Pay $2.62B For 27.3% Of Charter
STAMFORD, Conn. & ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (May 1, 2013) –Charter Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: CHTR) (“Charter”) and Liberty Media Corporation (Nasdaq: LMCA, LMCB) (“Liberty”) announced today that Liberty has completed its previously
announced agreement with investment funds managed by, or affiliated with, Apollo Management, Oaktree Capital Management and Crestview Partners to acquire 26.9 million shares and 1.1 million warrants in Charter Communications, Inc. for $2.6 billion, which represents a 27.3% beneficial ownership in Charter using shares outstanding as of December 31, 2012, and a price per share of $95.50.
Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei Made $57.2M In 2012, +1,693%
No need to guess what accounted for the big increase. When Liberty Chairman John Malone calls the shots, big money decisions are almost always driven by a desire to minimize taxes. (One of SVP Albert Rosenthaler’s chief jobs … Read More »
Bloomberg: Liberty Global Mulling Takeover Bid For Germany’s Largest Cable Operator
In what would amount to its latest bold move in the European cable sector, John Malone’s Liberty Global is reportedly considering a takeover bid for Germany’s Kabel Deutschland. Liberty this week was granted approval … Read More »
European Commission Approves Liberty Global’s Takeover Of UK’s Virgin Media
Liberty Global chairman John Malone is a step closer to facing off in the British cable biz with long-time frenemy Rupert Murdoch. European authorities today cleared Liberty’s $23.3B takeover of UK cable … Read More »
Liberty Media’s John Malone Calls Pay TV Sports Prices “Unsustainable”: Video
The former King of Cable — who recently agreed to buy more than 27% of Charter Communications – has a bracing warning for companies such as Disney and News Corp that hope to keep raising prices for their sports programming. “You have an unsustainable model,” he told CNBC’s … Read More »
Liberty Media CEO Says Deals May Make Sense For Sirius XM And Starz: Video
Greg Maffei seems open to all kinds of possibilities for the properties his company controls. The newly anointed chairman of Sirius XM told CNBC’s David Faber today that Liberty “absolutely” might consider spinning off the satellite radio company, making it independent again. And he says that … Read More »
Sirius XM Board Adds Discovery’s David Zaslav And John Malone’s Son, And Pays Mel Karmazin $11M
Liberty Media Chairman John Malone‘s company controls Sirius XM, but he and Liberty General Counsel Charles Tanabe no longer want to sit on the satellite radio provider’s board, according to the … Read More »
Liberty Global To Pay $810M For Minority Stake In Major Dutch Cable Operator Ziggo
In a further sign of John Malone’s increasing European cable ambitions, Liberty Global has acquired a 12.65% stake in Dutch operator Ziggo. It’s paying 632.5M euros ($810M) for the minority stake in the Netherlands’ biggest … Read More »
Liberty Media To Pay $2.62B For 27.3% Of Charter Communications
John Malone’s back in the U.S. cable business. His Liberty Media has agreed to pay $95.50 a share for most of the stakes in Charter currently owned by Apollo Management, Oaktree Capital Management and Crestview Partners. (Crestview will hang on to 7.4% of Charter and Oaktree will keep 2.2%.) The transactions likely will close “in the first half of the second quarter” of this year, the companies say. When that happens Liberty will control four seats on Charter’s board: They’ll be held by Liberty chairman Malone, Liberty CEO Greg Maffei, Liberty Global CTO Nair Balan, and Barnes & Noble CFO Michael Huseby. But Liberty can’t take over Charter just yet. Malone’s company agreed not to up its stake in Charter beyond 35% until January 2016 and after that must stay below 39.99%. Malone was considered the king of cable in the U.S. until 1999 when he sold Tele-Communications Inc — the dominant operator at the time — to AT&T. Charter had about 4M video subscribers at the end of 2012, making it the No. 4 cable operator.
Charter shares jumped 10% yesterday, to $98.04, when word of the deal leaked, and are up an additional 1% this morning. Liberty was up 3.8% yesterday and a little under 1% this morning. “Our initial read is that this is OK for Liberty, Sirius, and other assets in Liberty’s portfolio, although we await additional detail on the ‘new loan arrangements’ used to finance the transaction,” Lazard Capital Markets’ Barton Crockett says.
Here’s today’s announcement: Read More »
Charter Shares Soar On Report That Liberty Media Will Buy 25% Stake
The cable company’s stock is up 8.4% after The Wall Street Journal said that John Malone’s Liberty Media is “nearing” a deal to pay close to $2.5B for the equity. If correct, then it would mark Malone’s … Read More »
Liberty Media’s Greg Maffei Named Non-Executive Chairman Of Live Nation
Liberty Media owns about 27% of the live entertainment power, so it’s not surprising to see its CEO at the head of the table. Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino says that Greg Maffei — a former CFO at … Read More »
Virgin Media CEO To Depart With $86.8M After Liberty Global Merger
Once John Malone’s Liberty Global finalizes its $23.3B acquisition of the UK’s Virgin Media, Virgin CEO Neil Berkett will leave with $19.6M in severance and $67.2M in other options and rewards, a company … Read More »
Starz Shares Rise After Liberty Media Says It’s Looking Out For A “Partnership”
Starz shares are up 3.2% this morning after Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei told investors that we’re entering a period of programming consolidation and “we’ll see whether there’s a partnership … Read More »
Liberty Media Calls Talk About A Barnes & Noble Sale “Preliminary”
Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei, whose company owns about 17% of Barnes & Noble, doesn’t seem impressed by this week’s disclosure by the book store chain’s founder Leonard Riggio that he may try to buy its … Read More »
ITV Shares Surge Amid Takeover Talk In London Media Sector: Reports
ITV, the UK’s leading commercial web (and home to Downton Abbey) has been the subject of takeover chatter in the past year, but renewed talk set the market abuzz on Friday and today. The stock rose as much as 3.3% in London trading today, after already jumping 3% at the end of last week. Shares closed at 120.3 pence this afternoon. The hikes come as Citigroup put the company on a list of European firms that could become takeover targets or begin share buybacks. Nomura also reiterated its buy recommendation, according to Bloomberg. Liberty Global’s move to acquire Virgin Media in a $23.3B merger earlier this month has fueled takeover talk in the sector and private equity groups are thought to be the most likely suitors in the event of a move on ITV. But, other media groups have been mentioned as potential bidders including RTL, NBC, Mediaset and Time Warner, The Guardian reports. According to The Evening Standard, traders have also suggested ITV could attract interest from TV and music mogul Simon Cowell and retail billionaire Sir Philip Green. Read More »
UPDATE: Liberty Global To Acquire Virgin Media
UPDATE 5:21 PM: Liberty Global and Virgin Media confirmed late today that Liberty will acquire Virgin Media. Here’s the release:
ENGLEWOOD, Colo.–Liberty Global, Inc. (“Liberty Global”) (NASDAQ: LBTYA, LBTYB and LBTYK) and Virgin Media Inc. (“Virgin Media”) (NASDAQ: VMED; LSE: VMED) today announced that they have entered into
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