Don’t look for Liberty Media Chairman John Malone to add a cable company to his own portfolio. Although he believes the industry is ripe for consolidation, it’s “unlikely that we would participate in buying stakes in other cable companies other than helping Charter,” CEO Greg Maffei told analysts today. Liberty owns about 27% of Charter, and has been eyeing merger deals with companies including Time Warner Cable, Cox, and Cablevision. Maffei didn’t rule out a hostile deal, although he’d clearly prefer one to be friendly. “I don’t think we’re making a hard statement about where our future lies,” he says. “Ultimately you have to reach some kind of consensus.” He also echoed Charter CEO Tom Rutledge who said earlier today that he’s interested in a merger, but doesn’t consider it a must. A deal “may come to pass. It may not,” Maffei says. Liberty’s investment in Charter “wasn’t conditioned around that optionality.” Maffei says he’s upbeat about the opportunities to sell video programming, despite growing talk from execs including Cablevision CEO Jim Dolan about a future where cable companies just offer broadband — allowing others to provide video over the pipe. But Maffei says that operators will have to think more seriously about replacing today’s all-you-can-eat pricing for broadband with a model that charges people based on how much capacity they use. “There is a risk in a world where you have increasingly large amounts of video streaming and you’re not charging on a per-bit basis,” Maffei says.
Liberty CEO Says He Would Only Make A Cable Deal With Charter
Charter, Goldman Sachs Mulling Time Warner Cable Offer: Report
Talk of a possible merger between Charter Communications and Time Warner Cable appears to be re-surfacing. John Malone-backed Charter reportedly is working with Goldman Sachs Group to… Read More »
John Malone To Charlie Ergen: Merge Dish With DirecTV For The Industry’s Sake
John Malone is the largest individual investor in DirecTV and a former kingpin of pay TV, so why not offer advice to the satcaster’s lone rival? That’s just what he did Thursday at Allen & Co.’s … Read More »
Three Mogul Enemies Will Face Off Friday On 2013 Camp Allen’s Big Media Panel
Allen & Co Hollywood moguls are arriving at the 31st annual Allen & Co investment conference in Sun Valley starting today — and this time there’s something fun awaiting them. For years now the … Read More »
Time Warner Cable Debt Holders Should Worry If Charter Comes Knocking: Moody’s
Debt holders shouldn’t be as enthusiastic as stock buyers seem to be about the talk of a possible marriage between Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications, Moody’s Investors Service warns today. Liberty Media’s John Malone fanned the … Read More »
Cablevision Shares Pop On Growing Speculation About A Possible Deal
You can’t attribute the 9.4% increase in Cablevision‘s share price today — and 23% jump over the last five days — to the day’s only solid news: Charter just closed the deal announced in February to pay $1.63B for Cablevision’s systems in Colorado, Montana, Wyoming and Utah. No, investors are more excited by new reports that the Dolan family — led by Cablevision founder Charles Dolan and his son, CEO Jim Dolan — may finally be willing to sell the company, and that Time Warner Cable as well as Charter want to kick the tires. TWC has long salivated to combine its crown jewel cable system in Manhattan with Cablevision’s franchises in New York’s outer boroughs and suburbs including Long Island. Up to now, the Dolans haven’t been interested. The family tried to take the company private in 2007, but shareholders rejected the offer. Cablevision’s stock took a roller-coaster ride as execs grappled with growing competition from phone companies led by Verizon’s FiOS and restructured operations — including spinoff deals in 2010 for Madison Square Garden, and in 2011 for AMC Networks. But Cablevision’s stock price has been virtually dormant since the beginning of 2012, at least until the latest speculation-fueled run-up. The change: Liberty Media’s John Malone recently paid $2.6B for a 27.3% stake in Charter — run by former Cablevision COO Tom Rutledge. They’re eager to snag Time Warner Cable. Read More »
Would Time Warner Cable Rather Buy Systems Than Sell Itself To John Malone?
Apparently so, according to a Reuters report. The No. 2 cable operator has spoken to Cox and Cablevision about possible deals “in recent months” and continues to be interested in them, the news wire … Read More »
Is John Malone Crafting A Cable Mega-Deal?
Shares in Time Warner Cable, Charter, and Cablevision popped this afternoon after Bloomberg reported that the one-time King of Cable is “exploring scenarios” to help Charter buy one of the other companies. Investors have speculated for weeks about a deal, seen as a real possibility since May when John Malone‘s Liberty Media paid $2.6B for a 27.3% stake in Charter. Today’s story took things further, citing unnamed sources who added details — including one who said that Malone and Charter “would like to get a friendly deal done [with Time Warner Cable] in the coming months.” Charter needs to show that it can afford to play; its $12.5B market value pales next to Time Warner Cable’s $31.7B. A buyer likely would have to pay much more: Evercore Partners’ Bryan Kraft says this week that TWC shareholders would want “a significant premium” to compensate them for giving up control, accepting additional risk, and creating most of the cost-saving synergies. 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 »
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 »
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 »
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
Sirius XM Board Overhauled As Liberty Media Formally Takes Control
Liberty Media Chairman John Malone just consolidated his power at the satellite radio company as four people friendly to his outlook joined the Sirius XM board replacing former CEO Mel Karmazin — who left last month … Read More »
Liberty Media Makes Starz Spinoff Official
Liberty Media‘s John Malone is famous for constructing Rube Goldberg-like deals that enable him to avoid taxes, or avoid regulator scrutiny. And the just-announced arrangement to spin off Starz will do nothing to change that reputation. … Read More »
John Malone Pays Barry Diller $300M For Controlling Stake In TripAdvisor
Here’s the latest sign that two of the media business’ most famous frenemies have put their squabbles behind them, at least for now. IAC chief Barry Diller stepped down as chairman and Senior Executive of the web’s top travel … Read More »
UPDATE: John Malone Says Starz Could Be Taken Over After It Splits From Liberty
UPDATE, 11:56 AM: Liberty Media chairman John Malone finally took on the big question for Starz as his company prepares to spin it off: In a Q&A session at the end of Liberty’s Investor Day presentations, he indicated that once the premium cable network company is independent it likely will decide to sell itself to another company. “Everybody can use a big brother,” Malone says. “There are substantial synergies for Starz working together with various potential media partners. Certainly one of the opportunities is for [CEO Chris Albrecht] and the board to explore other relationships….Liberty can’t provide Starz with much in the way of operational synergies in the U.S.”
PREVIOUS, 10:52 AM: Starz’s new slogan is “Starz: Taking You Places,” CEO Chris Albrecht told Liberty Media investors today at the company’s annual gathering to review its holdings. Liberty CEO Greg Maffei says execs expect a spinoff to take place by year end. Read More »
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