John Malone, liberal media
Scott Ells | Bloomberg | Getty Images
liberal media announced on wednesday divest most assets In addition to Formula 1, a separate public company has been set up called Liberty Live, and CEO Greg Maffei is Resigned at the end of the year.
Chairman John Malone will serve as interim CEO of Liberty Media. Liberty Media’s investor day is scheduled for Thursday in Manhattan.
After the spin-off, Liberty Media will own Formula 1 (which Liberty acquired in 2016 and later spun off as a tracking stock) and MotoGP (once the deal is completed). Liberty Live will hold approximately 69.9 million shares of Live Nation Entertainment, Quint and certain other private assets, according to a press release.
The company also announced cable companies Chartered Communications Liberty Broadband will be acquired in an all-stock transaction. In September, Liberty Broadband publicly expressed its desire to merge with Charter to simplify Malone’s portfolio. Liberty owns 26% of Charter.
“Separating Liberty Live Group into a separate public entity will simplify Liberty Media’s capital structure, reduce the discount to the net asset value of Liberty Live stock and enhance the trading liquidity of both entities,” Maffei said in the release.
The demerger of Liberty Media and Liberty Live is expected to be completed in the second half of 2025, and the sale of Liberty Broadband to Charter is expected to be completed in mid-2027.
“Following today’s announcements from Liberty Media and Liberty Broadband, all Liberty acquisitions completed during my tenure now feature structures where shareholders can have more direct ownership in their proceeds,” Maffei said in a separate release. ” While leaving an organization as dynamic as Liberty is never easy, I believe now is the right time.”
Maffei has been part of Liberty since 2005 and has served in various roles on the company’s property board, including Charter.
Malone is a pioneer in the cable television industry and is known as the “cable cowboy” and has held various media assets for many years. He served as an independent director of Warner Bros. Discovery—initially through Discovery, which later merged with Warner Bros. at his recommendation.
He is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Liberty Media, Liberty Broadband and Liberty Global. While the 83-year-old Malone remains an active investor and vocal leader in the industry, it’s worth noting that he will take over as interim CEO of Liberty Media.
Malone was a secretive dealmaker known for his shrewd financial deals and splitting companies into tracking stocks.
Malone gained notoriety after running and building the cable television empire TCI in the 1970s. In 1999, he sold TCI to AT&T for about $50 billion.
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