Liberty Media
Encyclopedia
Liberty Media Corporation (commonly referred to as Liberty Media or Liberty) is an American media conglomerate
and the control is exercised by company Chairman John C. Malone
, who owns a majority of the voting shares.
The company operates three divisions: Liberty Capital , Liberty Starz , and Liberty Interactive Group . The tracking stock
of each division trades on the NASDAQ
stock exchange.
of TCI
, an American cable-television
group. Peter Barton, hired by TCI's Malone, served as president until retiring in April 1997 to start an investment firm and spend time with his family.
The company took over TCI assets considered to have little value, but Barton completed "a deal every ten days for six years" and made the company a big success. Liberty was merged back into TCI in the mid-1990s.
On March 13, 1998, Liberty Media Group and TCI Group announced the merger of Encore and STARZ! into a single company – Encore Media Group, owned by Liberty. Encore was taking advantage of the growth of digital cable
, while TCI, which had previously owned twenty percent of Encore, was more interested in traditional cable.
After U.S. Department of Justice
approval that required TCI to sell its 23.5 percent interest in Sprint Corporation PSC
, TCI merged with AT&T
on March 9, 1999 for approximately $48 billion. Liberty Media merged with TCI Ventures Group LLC (TCIVA), TCI's telephone and Internet businesses, and the resulting company became part of AT&T, giving Liberty Media $5.5 billion for use to repurchase stock or buy other companies. Liberty Media also could borrow $6 billion without lowering AT&T's debt rating
.
AT&T bought the other TCI businesses – @Home Corp.
, National Digital Television Center and Western Tele-Communications Inc. – for $2.5 billion in cash. TCI chairman Malone, who became head of the new company, said buyers would not want all of TCI, but they would be interested in Liberty Media. Malone wanted to start a finance unit similar to GE Capital
, which could start new cable or Internet services. TCI had already planned digital cable
set-top boxes
.
On September 28, 1998, Liberty Media announced the formation of Liberty Interactive, a company which would take advantage of new technologies such as set-top boxes to develop interactive
programming. The company would own eighty-six percent of TCI Music Inc. (NASDAQ
symbol: TUNE/TUNEP). As of January 1, 1999, E! Entertainment
President and Chief Executive Officer Lee Masters would become the new company's CEO, and Bruce Ravenel would be Chief Technology Officer.
On September 10, 1999, Liberty Media Group renamed TCI Music to Liberty Digital Inc. (NASDAQ symbol: LDIG), with the new company trading on NASDAQ's National Market tier, after Liberty Media traded most of its Internet content, interactive television assets, and rights to provide AT&T's cable systems with interactive services, plus cash and notes valued at $150 million, for TCI Music stock. Masters, who became Liberty Digital's CEO, told The Wall Street Journal
that the new company had a value of $1 billion, $650 million of that from the interactive unit of Liberty Media, which had also used the name Liberty Digital. Liberty Digital lost $244 million with revenue of $66 million in 1999, thanks to investments in struggling Internet businesses homegrocer.com, drugstore.com
, TiVo
and iVillage
. The company bought half of the Game Show Network
because of its interactive features.
On December 17, 1999, TCI Satellite Entertainment Inc. (TSAT), based in Englewood
, Colorado
, announced that Liberty Media was trading its interest in Sprint PCS for $300 million in TCI Satellite preferred stock
. A new company, ninety percent owned by Liberty Media and ten percent owned by TCI Satellite, would combine the satellite-related businesses and take advantage of the growing area of Internet content. Liberty Media president and CEO Robert R. Bennett
said the deal would benefit stockholders of both companies.
Another new company was Liberty Livewire, formed from Todd-AO
and two other companies by Liberty Media, which provided audio and video post-production services. David Beddow of TCI became CEO/
, News Corporation
and QVC continued to do well, but the company's newer projects had problems, and the company's stock price dropped by half. Malone no longer had the "Malone halo" he once did. If AT&T agreed to spin off Liberty Media, new deals such as a possible News Corp. purchase of DirecTV
would be easier because AT&T would no longer require federal approval to complete such deals.
Liberty Media was spun off from AT&T on August 10, 2001. This was one of three possible actions to ensure federal approval of AT&T's $54 billion acquisition of MediaOne Group – the others were selling its 25.5 percent share of Time Warner Entertainment
and dropping 11.8 million cable customers.
Also in 2001, Liberty Media acquired the remainder of Liberty Digital and Liberty Satellite & Technology (formerly TCI Satellite). Both companies were independent spinoffs of TCI, though Liberty already owned ninety percent of both companies after the exchange for Sprint PCS stock. Being independent increased their asset values, but the stock prices of both dropped, negating any benefits.
Liberty Media subsequently spent $5 billion on nine German
regional cable networks. Apart from television distribution it holds major interests in other groups. For example, it was the largest shareholder in News Corporation (though the founding Murdoch family
owns more voting shares
), and had a four percent stake in Time Warner. As of December 2003, it had never paid a dividend.
In June 2005, Liberty Media International combined with UnitedGlobalCom, creating Liberty Global.
In May 2006, Time Warner acquired Liberty Media's fifty percent stake in Court TV
for $735 million.
On May 16, 2006, IDT sold its IDT Entertainment division to Liberty Media "for all of Liberty Media's interests in IDT, $186 million in cash and the assumption of existing indebtedness". IDT Entertainment's assets and Starz Entertainment Group's line of premium television channels will combine to produce content for all distribution platforms.
Liberty negotiated an asset swap with News Corp. and Time Warner that would give it control of DirecTV
and the Atlanta Braves
baseball team. On February 12, 2007, the deal was completed with Time Warner wherein Liberty would receive the Atlanta Braves, a group of craft magazines and $1 billion in cash in exchange for 60 million shares of Time Warner stock (valued at $1.27 billion as of market close on February 12, 2007). The deal was approved by Major League Baseball
and then completed on May 16, 2007. On February 20, 2008, the Federal Communications Commission
approved the exchange of 16.3 percent of News Corp. for 38.4 percent of DirecTV, an $11 billion deal that also gave Liberty sports networks in Denver, Pittsburgh and Seattle
plus $550 million in cash.
In April 2007, Liberty completed a purchase of Green Bay
, Wisconsin
, television station WFRV-TV
, and satellite station WJMN-TV
in Escanaba
, Michigan
, which serves the Marquette
, Michigan, market. The deal was part of a swap of 7.59 million shares of common stock in CBS
, the stations' owner, that was held by Liberty Media; in exchange for the stock, CBS gave liberty the stations and $170 million in cash. Liberty announced plans in April 2011 to sell WFRV and WJMN to Nexstar Broadcasting Group
for $20 million; the stations were the only over-the-air broadcast properties in Liberty's portfolio.
On February 17, 2009, Liberty announced that it would invest up to $530 million into the struggling Sirius XM Radio Inc., in a structured deal that would help the satellite radio provider avoid filing bankruptcy protection by meeting its obligations. The deal also provided for two board seats for Liberty Media, and provided cash for operations and development, with a maturity date of December 2012 for the loan. On March 6, the two companies approved the second part of the deal, with Sirius XM getting $250 million immediately and Liberty receiving 12.5 million shares of preferred stock convertible into a forty percent ownership of Sirius XM common stock
.
list 2011, Liberty Media was ranked 224, moving up from 2010 when they were ranked 227.
In June 2011, Liberty announced it was in talks to buy a seventy percent stake in the Barnes & Noble
bookstore chain, although in August, sources told the Financial Times
it was losing interest in such a transaction. Liberty eventually purchased a sixteen percent stake in the form of preferred stock in Barnes & Noble for $204 million.
On September 3, 2008, Liberty Media decided to initiate the process of spinning off Liberty Entertainment to Liberty Media shareholders, leaving Malone with a majority ownership of the new company. On May 4, 2009, The DirecTV Group Inc. said it would become a part of Liberty's entertainment unit, part of which would then be spun off as a separate company called DirecTV. The new company would also acquire Liberty's one hundred percent interests in the three FSN
networks and its fifty percent interest in GSN
. The rest of the unit would be traded as Liberty Starz. Liberty would increase its share of DirecTV from forty-eight to fifty-four percent, with Malone and his family owning twenty-four percent.
On May 4, 2009, Liberty announced that it would split off Liberty Entertainment, Inc., a subsidiary of Liberty owning the three FNC channels acquired under the swap with News Corp. and Liberty's sixty-five percent interest in GSN
, into a separate company that would merge with The DirecTV Group, reducing Liberty owner John Malone's stake in DirecTV to twenty-four percent. The merger was completed on November 19, 2009, with The DirecTV Group and Liberty Entertainment becoming subsidiaries of a new company named DirecTV.
On June 16, 2010, Malone exchanged his preferred stock
in DirecTV with equivalent amounts of common stock
, reducing his voting interest in the company from twenty-four percent to three percent, with Malone resigning as chairman and ending his managerial role at DirecTV.
and Liberty's interests in:
Media conglomerate
A media conglomerate, media group or media institution is a company that owns large numbers of companies in various mass media such as television, radio, publishing, movies, and the Internet...
and the control is exercised by company Chairman John C. Malone
John C. Malone
John C. Malone is an American businessman and philanthropist. He served as chief executive officer of cable and media giant, Tele-Communications Inc. , for twenty-four years from 1973–1996. Malone is now chairman of Liberty Media and CEO of Discovery Holding Company. He was the interim CEO...
, who owns a majority of the voting shares.
The company operates three divisions: Liberty Capital , Liberty Starz , and Liberty Interactive Group . The tracking stock
Tracking stock
Tracking stock or targeted stock are specialized equity offerings issued by a company that is based on the operations of a wholly owned subsidiary of a diversified firm. Therefore, the tracking stock will be traded at a price related to the operations of the specific division of the company being...
of each division trades on the NASDAQ
NASDAQ
The NASDAQ Stock Market, also known as the NASDAQ, is an American stock exchange. "NASDAQ" originally stood for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations". It is the second-largest stock exchange by market capitalization in the world, after the New York Stock Exchange. As of...
stock exchange.
The 1990s
Liberty Media began in 1991 as a spin-offSpin out
A spin-out, also known as a spin-off or a starburst, refers to a type of corporate action where a company "splits off" sections of itself as a separate business....
of TCI
Tele-Communications Inc.
Tele-Communications, Inc. or TCI was a cable television provider in the United States, for much of its history controlled by Bob Magness and John Malone....
, an American cable-television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
group. Peter Barton, hired by TCI's Malone, served as president until retiring in April 1997 to start an investment firm and spend time with his family.
The company took over TCI assets considered to have little value, but Barton completed "a deal every ten days for six years" and made the company a big success. Liberty was merged back into TCI in the mid-1990s.
On March 13, 1998, Liberty Media Group and TCI Group announced the merger of Encore and STARZ! into a single company – Encore Media Group, owned by Liberty. Encore was taking advantage of the growth of digital cable
Digital cable
Digital cable is a generic term for any type of cable television distribution using digital video compression or distribution. The technology was originally developed by Motorola.-Background:...
, while TCI, which had previously owned twenty percent of Encore, was more interested in traditional cable.
After U.S. Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
approval that required TCI to sell its 23.5 percent interest in Sprint Corporation PSC
Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel Corporation is an American telecommunications company based in Overland Park, Kansas. The company owns and operates Sprint, the third largest wireless telecommunications network in the United States, with 53.4 million customers, behind Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility...
, TCI merged with AT&T
American Telephone & Telegraph
AT&T Corp., originally American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American telecommunications company that provides voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunications and professional services to businesses, consumers, and government agencies. AT&T is the oldest telecommunications company...
on March 9, 1999 for approximately $48 billion. Liberty Media merged with TCI Ventures Group LLC (TCIVA), TCI's telephone and Internet businesses, and the resulting company became part of AT&T, giving Liberty Media $5.5 billion for use to repurchase stock or buy other companies. Liberty Media also could borrow $6 billion without lowering AT&T's debt rating
Bond credit rating
In investment, the bond credit rating assesses the credit worthiness of a corporation's or government debt issues. It is analogous to credit ratings for individuals.-Table:...
.
AT&T bought the other TCI businesses – @Home Corp.
@Home Network
@Home Network was a high-speed cable Internet service provider from 1996 to 2002. It was founded by Milo Medin, cable companies TCI, Comcast, and Cox Communications, and William Randolph Hearst III, who was their first CEO, as a joint venture to produce high-speed cable Internet service through...
, National Digital Television Center and Western Tele-Communications Inc. – for $2.5 billion in cash. TCI chairman Malone, who became head of the new company, said buyers would not want all of TCI, but they would be interested in Liberty Media. Malone wanted to start a finance unit similar to GE Capital
GE Capital
GE Capital is the financial services unit of General Electric, one of five major units. Its various divisions include GE Capital Aviation Services, GE Capital Real Estate, GE Energy Financial Services and GE Money....
, which could start new cable or Internet services. TCI had already planned digital cable
Digital cable
Digital cable is a generic term for any type of cable television distribution using digital video compression or distribution. The technology was originally developed by Motorola.-Background:...
set-top boxes
Cable converter box
A cable converter box or television converter box is an electronic tuning device that transposes/converts any of the available channels from a cable television service to an analog RF signal on a single channel, usually VHF channel 3 or 4. The device allows a television set that is not “cable...
.
On September 28, 1998, Liberty Media announced the formation of Liberty Interactive, a company which would take advantage of new technologies such as set-top boxes to develop interactive
Interactivity
In the fields of information science, communication, and industrial design, there is debate over the meaning of interactivity. In the "contingency view" of interactivity, there are three levels:...
programming. The company would own eighty-six percent of TCI Music Inc. (NASDAQ
NASDAQ
The NASDAQ Stock Market, also known as the NASDAQ, is an American stock exchange. "NASDAQ" originally stood for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations". It is the second-largest stock exchange by market capitalization in the world, after the New York Stock Exchange. As of...
symbol: TUNE/TUNEP). As of January 1, 1999, E! Entertainment
E!
E! Entertainment Television is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by NBCUniversal. It features entertainment-related programming, reality television, feature films and occasionally series and specials unrelated to the entertainment industry.E! has an audience reach of...
President and Chief Executive Officer Lee Masters would become the new company's CEO, and Bruce Ravenel would be Chief Technology Officer.
On September 10, 1999, Liberty Media Group renamed TCI Music to Liberty Digital Inc. (NASDAQ symbol: LDIG), with the new company trading on NASDAQ's National Market tier, after Liberty Media traded most of its Internet content, interactive television assets, and rights to provide AT&T's cable systems with interactive services, plus cash and notes valued at $150 million, for TCI Music stock. Masters, who became Liberty Digital's CEO, told The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
that the new company had a value of $1 billion, $650 million of that from the interactive unit of Liberty Media, which had also used the name Liberty Digital. Liberty Digital lost $244 million with revenue of $66 million in 1999, thanks to investments in struggling Internet businesses homegrocer.com, drugstore.com
Drugstore.com
Drugstore.com is an Internet retailer in health and beauty care products headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. Its web operations were launched on February 24, 1999....
, TiVo
TiVo
TiVo is a digital video recorder developed and marketed by TiVo, Inc. and introduced in 1999. TiVo provides an on-screen guide of scheduled broadcast programming television programs, whose features include "Season Pass" schedules which record every new episode of a series, and "WishList"...
and iVillage
IVillage
iVillage, Inc. is a media company that is owned by NBCUniversal. The site focuses on categories targeted at women, including Food, Health, Entertainment, Family, Beauty & Style. Additional businesses and brand extensions within iVillage Networks include iVillage UK, NBC Digital Health Network,...
. The company bought half of the Game Show Network
Game Show Network
The Game Show Network is an American cable television and direct broadcast satellite channel dedicated to game shows and casino game shows. The channel was launched on December 1, 1994. Its current slogan is "The World Needs More Winners"...
because of its interactive features.
On December 17, 1999, TCI Satellite Entertainment Inc. (TSAT), based in Englewood
Englewood, Colorado
The city of Englewood is a Home Rule Municipality located in Arapahoe County, Colorado, United States. As of 2007, the city is estimated to have a total population of 32,532. Englewood is part of the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area. Englewood is located in the South Platte River Valley east of the...
, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, announced that Liberty Media was trading its interest in Sprint PCS for $300 million in TCI Satellite preferred stock
Preferred stock
Preferred stock, also called preferred shares, preference shares, or simply preferreds, is a special equity security that has properties of both an equity and a debt instrument and is generally considered a hybrid instrument...
. A new company, ninety percent owned by Liberty Media and ten percent owned by TCI Satellite, would combine the satellite-related businesses and take advantage of the growing area of Internet content. Liberty Media president and CEO Robert R. Bennett
Robert R. Bennett
Robert R. Bennett is an American businessman who was the president and director of the Discovery Holding Company from 2005 to 2008 and president and CEO of Liberty Media from 1997 to 2005.-Early life:...
said the deal would benefit stockholders of both companies.
Another new company was Liberty Livewire, formed from Todd-AO
Todd-AO
Todd-AO is a post-production company founded in 1953, providing sound-related services to the motion picture and television industries. The company operates three facilities in the Los Angeles area.-History:...
and two other companies by Liberty Media, which provided audio and video post-production services. David Beddow of TCI became CEO/
The 2000s
Liberty Media's Discovery ChannelDiscovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
, News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
and QVC continued to do well, but the company's newer projects had problems, and the company's stock price dropped by half. Malone no longer had the "Malone halo" he once did. If AT&T agreed to spin off Liberty Media, new deals such as a possible News Corp. purchase of DirecTV
DirecTV
DirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...
would be easier because AT&T would no longer require federal approval to complete such deals.
Liberty Media was spun off from AT&T on August 10, 2001. This was one of three possible actions to ensure federal approval of AT&T's $54 billion acquisition of MediaOne Group – the others were selling its 25.5 percent share of Time Warner Entertainment
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
and dropping 11.8 million cable customers.
Also in 2001, Liberty Media acquired the remainder of Liberty Digital and Liberty Satellite & Technology (formerly TCI Satellite). Both companies were independent spinoffs of TCI, though Liberty already owned ninety percent of both companies after the exchange for Sprint PCS stock. Being independent increased their asset values, but the stock prices of both dropped, negating any benefits.
Liberty Media subsequently spent $5 billion on nine German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
regional cable networks. Apart from television distribution it holds major interests in other groups. For example, it was the largest shareholder in News Corporation (though the founding Murdoch family
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
owns more voting shares
Voting shares
A voting share is a share of stock giving the stockholder the right to vote on matters of corporate policy and the composition of the members of the board of directors....
), and had a four percent stake in Time Warner. As of December 2003, it had never paid a dividend.
In June 2005, Liberty Media International combined with UnitedGlobalCom, creating Liberty Global.
In May 2006, Time Warner acquired Liberty Media's fifty percent stake in Court TV
Court TV
truTV is an American cable television network owned by Turner Broadcasting, a subsidiary of Time Warner. The network launched as Court TV in 1991, changing to truTV in 2008...
for $735 million.
On May 16, 2006, IDT sold its IDT Entertainment division to Liberty Media "for all of Liberty Media's interests in IDT, $186 million in cash and the assumption of existing indebtedness". IDT Entertainment's assets and Starz Entertainment Group's line of premium television channels will combine to produce content for all distribution platforms.
Liberty negotiated an asset swap with News Corp. and Time Warner that would give it control of DirecTV
DirecTV
DirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...
and the Atlanta Braves
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....
baseball team. On February 12, 2007, the deal was completed with Time Warner wherein Liberty would receive the Atlanta Braves, a group of craft magazines and $1 billion in cash in exchange for 60 million shares of Time Warner stock (valued at $1.27 billion as of market close on February 12, 2007). The deal was approved by Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
and then completed on May 16, 2007. On February 20, 2008, the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
approved the exchange of 16.3 percent of News Corp. for 38.4 percent of DirecTV, an $11 billion deal that also gave Liberty sports networks in Denver, Pittsburgh and Seattle
FSN Northwest
Root Sports Northwest is a United States regional sports network available in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska...
plus $550 million in cash.
In April 2007, Liberty completed a purchase of Green Bay
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Green Bay is a city in and the county seat of Brown County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, located at the head of Green Bay, a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It has an elevation of above sea level and is located north of Milwaukee. As of the 2010 United States Census,...
, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
, television station WFRV-TV
WFRV-TV
WFRV-TV is a CBS-affiliated television station licensed to Green Bay, Wisconsin, and serving Green Bay, the Fox Valley, and Northeastern Wisconsin. The station broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 39 from a transmitter north of the Brown County town of Morrison...
, and satellite station WJMN-TV
WJMN-TV
WJMN-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for Michigan's Central Upper Peninsula licensed to Escanaba. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 48 from a transmitter in unincorporated Northern Delta County south of the Alger County line. The station can also be seen on...
in Escanaba
Escanaba, Michigan
Escanaba is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan, located in the banana belt on the state's Upper Peninsula. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 13,140, making it the third-largest city in the Upper Peninsula after Marquette and Sault Ste. Marie...
, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, which serves the Marquette
Marquette, Michigan
Marquette is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Marquette County. The population was 21,355 at the 2010 census, making it the most populated city of the Upper Peninsula. Marquette is a major port on Lake Superior, primarily for shipping iron ore and is the home of Northern...
, Michigan, market. The deal was part of a swap of 7.59 million shares of common stock in CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, the stations' owner, that was held by Liberty Media; in exchange for the stock, CBS gave liberty the stations and $170 million in cash. Liberty announced plans in April 2011 to sell WFRV and WJMN to Nexstar Broadcasting Group
Nexstar Broadcasting Group
Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc., is an entity of broadcast television stations headquartered in Irving, Texas. The company consists of 50 television stations across the U.S., ranging from market sizes 9 to 201 . 43 of the stations are broadcasting at full power, with the other 4 broadcasting at...
for $20 million; the stations were the only over-the-air broadcast properties in Liberty's portfolio.
On February 17, 2009, Liberty announced that it would invest up to $530 million into the struggling Sirius XM Radio Inc., in a structured deal that would help the satellite radio provider avoid filing bankruptcy protection by meeting its obligations. The deal also provided for two board seats for Liberty Media, and provided cash for operations and development, with a maturity date of December 2012 for the loan. On March 6, the two companies approved the second part of the deal, with Sirius XM getting $250 million immediately and Liberty receiving 12.5 million shares of preferred stock convertible into a forty percent ownership of Sirius XM common stock
Common stock
Common stock is a form of corporate equity ownership, a type of security. It is called "common" to distinguish it from preferred stock. In the event of bankruptcy, common stock investors receive their funds after preferred stock holders, bondholders, creditors, etc...
.
The 2010s
On the Fortune 500Fortune 500
The Fortune 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine that ranks the top 500 U.S. closely held and public corporations as ranked by their gross revenue after adjustments made by Fortune to exclude the impact of excise taxes companies collect. The list includes publicly and...
list 2011, Liberty Media was ranked 224, moving up from 2010 when they were ranked 227.
In June 2011, Liberty announced it was in talks to buy a seventy percent stake in the Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble, Inc. is the largest book retailer in the United States, operating mainly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of bookstores headquartered at 122 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District in Manhattan in New York City. Barnes & Noble also operated the chain of small B. Dalton...
bookstore chain, although in August, sources told the Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
it was losing interest in such a transaction. Liberty eventually purchased a sixteen percent stake in the form of preferred stock in Barnes & Noble for $204 million.
Liberty Capital
- Atlanta BravesAtlanta BravesThe Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....
- Overture FilmsOverture FilmsOverture Films, LLC is an American film production and distribution company. It is a subsidiary of Liberty Media ....
- MacNeil/Lehrer Productions (sixty-seven percent)
- Starz MediaStarz MediaStarz Media is the motion picture, animation, television, and home video subsidiary of Liberty Media.-Subsidiaries:Starz Media's subsidiaries include:*Anchor Bay Entertainment - distribution division for DVDs and videos....
- TruePosition
- Marginal shareholdings in companies including Time Warner, ViacomViacomViacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...
and Sirius XM Radio
Former assets
- Court TV (now truTV) – this was a fifty percent stake with Time Warner which bought the other fifty percent of Court TV on May 12, 2006, for $735 million.
- Two CBS affiliates – WFRV-TVWFRV-TVWFRV-TV is a CBS-affiliated television station licensed to Green Bay, Wisconsin, and serving Green Bay, the Fox Valley, and Northeastern Wisconsin. The station broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 39 from a transmitter north of the Brown County town of Morrison...
(Channel 5), in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and its semi-satellite, WJMN-TV (Channel 3), in Escanaba, Michigan, (under "WFRV and WJMN Television Station, Inc.") (Sold to Nexstar Broadcasting Group)
Liberty Starz
- FUN TechnologiesFUN TechnologiesFUN Technologies was a listed company providing online games.Founded in 2002 by Canadian businessmen Lorne Abony and Andrew Rivkin, FUN grew to become the world's largest provider of online casual games and fantasy sports, with over 35 million registered customers. FUN was publicly traded with a...
, including Fanball - Overture FilmsOverture FilmsOverture Films, LLC is an American film production and distribution company. It is a subsidiary of Liberty Media ....
- Starz Entertainment (including Starz and EncoreEncore (Premium TV)Encore is an American premium television channel featuring mainly older and recent blockbuster motion pictures. It is owned by Liberty Starz. The headquarters of Encore and its sister channels Starz and MoviePlex are located on the Meridian International Business Center complex in Meridian,...
)
Former assets
- DirecTV Sports Networks: Owners of FSN PittsburghFSN PittsburghRoot Sports Pittsburgh is a regional sports network owned and operated by DirecTV Sports Networks. The channel first aired in the Pittsburgh metro area on April 24, 1986 as KBL with the season opener of the Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Mets from Three Rivers Stadium and expanded close to its modern day...
, FSN Rocky MountainFSN Rocky MountainRoot Sports Rocky Mountain is a regional sports network based in Denver, Colorado. The network is part of the DirecTV Sports Networks and is an affiliate of Fox Sports Net...
/FSN Utah, and FSN NorthwestFSN NorthwestRoot Sports Northwest is a United States regional sports network available in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska... - Liberty's forty-eight percent interest in DirecTVDirecTVDirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...
- Liberty's fifty percent interest in GSNGame Show NetworkThe Game Show Network is an American cable television and direct broadcast satellite channel dedicated to game shows and casino game shows. The channel was launched on December 1, 1994. Its current slogan is "The World Needs More Winners"...
On September 3, 2008, Liberty Media decided to initiate the process of spinning off Liberty Entertainment to Liberty Media shareholders, leaving Malone with a majority ownership of the new company. On May 4, 2009, The DirecTV Group Inc. said it would become a part of Liberty's entertainment unit, part of which would then be spun off as a separate company called DirecTV. The new company would also acquire Liberty's one hundred percent interests in the three FSN
FSN
FSN may refer to:* Fate/stay night, a visual novel and its adaptations.* The Federal Stock Number, a numeric code used to identify items in the Joint Army-Navy Catalog System....
networks and its fifty percent interest in GSN
Game Show Network
The Game Show Network is an American cable television and direct broadcast satellite channel dedicated to game shows and casino game shows. The channel was launched on December 1, 1994. Its current slogan is "The World Needs More Winners"...
. The rest of the unit would be traded as Liberty Starz. Liberty would increase its share of DirecTV from forty-eight to fifty-four percent, with Malone and his family owning twenty-four percent.
On May 4, 2009, Liberty announced that it would split off Liberty Entertainment, Inc., a subsidiary of Liberty owning the three FNC channels acquired under the swap with News Corp. and Liberty's sixty-five percent interest in GSN
Game Show Network
The Game Show Network is an American cable television and direct broadcast satellite channel dedicated to game shows and casino game shows. The channel was launched on December 1, 1994. Its current slogan is "The World Needs More Winners"...
, into a separate company that would merge with The DirecTV Group, reducing Liberty owner John Malone's stake in DirecTV to twenty-four percent. The merger was completed on November 19, 2009, with The DirecTV Group and Liberty Entertainment becoming subsidiaries of a new company named DirecTV.
On June 16, 2010, Malone exchanged his preferred stock
Preferred stock
Preferred stock, also called preferred shares, preference shares, or simply preferreds, is a special equity security that has properties of both an equity and a debt instrument and is generally considered a hybrid instrument...
in DirecTV with equivalent amounts of common stock
Common stock
Common stock is a form of corporate equity ownership, a type of security. It is called "common" to distinguish it from preferred stock. In the event of bankruptcy, common stock investors receive their funds after preferred stock holders, bondholders, creditors, etc...
, reducing his voting interest in the company from twenty-four percent to three percent, with Malone resigning as chairman and ending his managerial role at DirecTV.
Liberty Interactive Group
- BuySeasons (operator of buycostumes.com)
- EviteEviteEvite is a social-planning website for creating, sending, and managing online invitations.Evite was launched in 1998. The website is a free, advertisement-supported service. It was acquired by conglomerate IAC/InterActiveCorp in 2001. Liberty Media acquired it in 2010.- Usage :An event organizer...
- Gifts.com
- Provide Commerce (operator of proflowers.com)
- QVCQVCQVC is a multinational corporation specializing in televised home shopping. Founded in 1986 by Joseph Segel in West Goshen Township, Pennsylvania, United States, QVC broadcasts in five countries as QVC US, QVC UK, QVC Germany, QVC Japan and – QVC Italy to 200 million households...
, Inc.
and Liberty's interests in:
- Backcountry.comBackcountry.comBackcountry.com is an online outdoor retailer that specializes in high-end outdoor recreation gear for skiing, snowboarding, rock climbing, kayaking, hiking, trekking, trail running, snowshoeing, and cycling.-History:...
- Bodybuilding.comBodybuilding.comBodybuilding.com is an American online retailer/manufacturer of sports supplements and nutritional products. Bodybuilding.com was founded in 1999 in Boise, Idaho by then 21-year-old CEO Ryan R. DeLuca In July 2006, Milestone Partners acquired a majority interest in Bodybuilding.com for an...
- ExpediaExpediaExpedia is an Internet-based travel website based in the US with localised sites for 21 countries...
, Inc.
- LockerzLockerzLockerz.com is an international social commerce website based out of Seattle, WA. The site claimed 19 million members as of July 2011 in 195 different countries....
- OpenTVOpenTVOpenTV is an interactive television company founded in 1994. Its main business involves the sale of set-top-box operating systems and software. On March 28, 2010 OpenTV became a fully owned subsidiary of the NAGRA Kudelski Group and officially delisted from the NASDAQ, where it was previously...
Other Assets
Liberty Media is a prominent investor. In addition to it's own offerings, the company also owns the stock of several major media and telecommunication companies. As of September 1, 2011 ,primairly through Liberty Capital unless noted, Liberty has assets of the following companies not listed above:- AOLAOLAOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
Inc. (1% through Liberty Capital and 2% through Liberty Interactive) - Barnes and Noble Inc. (17%)
- CenturyLinkCenturyLinkCenturyLink, Inc. is a United States telecommunications firm, headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana. The company, founded as Central Telephone & Electronics Corporation in 1968, later changed its name to Century Telephone Enterprises, Inc. in 1971, and then was called CenturyTel, Inc. from 1999 to 2010...
Inc. (1%) - Crown Media Holdings Inc. (3%)
- Current Communications GroupCurrent Communications GroupCURRENT Group provides real time distribution grid visibility through intelligent sensing and analytics for Smart Grid projects with utilities worldwide...
LLC. (8% through Liberty Partners and Liberty Associated Partners) - Jingle Networks1-800-FREE-4111-800-FREE-411 is an American service offering advertising supported directory assistance operated by Marchex.-Service:Callers dial 1-800/888/866-FREE411 from any phone in the United States to use the toll-free service. Sponsors cover part of the service cost by playing advertising messages during...
Inc. (9% through Liberty Partners and Liberty Associated Partners) - Kroenke Arena CompanyPepsi CenterPepsi Center is a multi-purpose arena in Denver, Colorado, United States. The building is home to the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association, the Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League, and the Colorado Mammoth of the National Lacrosse League...
LLC. (7%) - Live Nation EntertainmentLive Nation EntertainmentLive Nation Entertainment is the new corporate name and owner of Live Nation and Ticketmaster, who have merged. The leadership consists of John C. Malone Chairman of Liberty Media as Chairman and Michael Rapino, as President and CEO of the new company...
Inc. (21%) - Mobile Streams Inc. (16%)
- Motorola MobilityMotorola MobilityMotorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. , formerly the Mobile Devices division of Motorola Inc. until January 2011, is a communications corporation headquartered in Libertyville, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. Motorola's networks division pioneered the flip phone with the StarTAC in the mid-1990s...
Inc. (2%) - Motorola Solutions Inc. (2%)
- Priceline.comPriceline.comPriceline.com is a company and a commercial website that helps users obtain discount rates for travel-related purchases such as airline tickets and hotel stays. The company is not a direct supplier of these services; instead it facilitates the provision of travel services by its suppliers to its...
Inc. (1%) - Sirius XM Radio Inc. (40%)
- Sprint NextelSprint NextelSprint Nextel Corporation is an American telecommunications company based in Overland Park, Kansas. The company owns and operates Sprint, the third largest wireless telecommunications network in the United States, with 53.4 million customers, behind Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility...
Corporation (2%) - Time Warner CableTime Warner CableTime Warner Cable is an American cable television company that operates in 28 states and has 31 operating divisions...
Inc. (1% through Liberty Capital and 2% through Liberty Interactive) - Time WarnerTime WarnerTime Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
Inc. (1% through Liberty Capital and 2% through Liberty Interactive) - ViacomViacomViacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...
Inc. (1%)
External links
- libertymedia.com, company's official website
- Ketupa - Liberty Media Corporation in-depth profile
- Yahoo! - Liberty Media Corporation Company Profile
- Yahoo! Business News: Liberty Media to invest in Sirius XM Radio