Conversations with the most influential figures in media and technology.
May 25-27, 2009
Carlsbad, California
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Speaker
John Malone 
Chairman
Liberty Media Corporation
Malone has been a cable legend since he first ran Tele-Communications Inc. back in the early 1970s. Besides being there at the founding of many channels, such as Discovery, his influence has put most of them on the map and his forceful business skills willed cable into becoming a key consumer medium for entertainment and news. Malone began his career in 1963 at Bell Telephone Laboratories, joined McKinsey & Company in 1968 and in 1970 he became Group Vice President at General Instrument. He is not shy about expressing his opinions either (see the pattern?).
Posts With John Malone
Voices
Liberty Media Close to Buying 25 Percent of Charter
John Malone’s Liberty Media Corp. is nearing a deal to buy 25 percent of Charter Communications Inc. for close to $2.5 billion, say people familiar with the situation.Voices
Liberty Global to Acquire Virgin Media
John Malone’s international cable business Liberty Global Inc. has agreed to acquire U.K. cable-television and Internet provider Virgin Media Inc. for $16 billion, in a deal that may create a stronger rival to market leader British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC.Voices
Liberty Interactive Buys Control of TripAdvisor
John Malone’s Liberty Interactive Corp. is buying most of Barry Diller’s stake in TripAdvisor Inc. for about $300 million, in a deal that gives the investment company control of the travel-information Web site.Voices
Karmazin Plans Exit as Liberty Gets Sirius
Mel Karmazin resigned as chief executive of Sirius XM Radio Inc., throwing in the towel after an extended battle with John Malone’s Liberty Media Corp. over control of the satellite-radio broadcaster.Voices
Liberty Says Nook Inspired B&N Bid
Liberty Media Corp. executives laid out their rationale for their surprise bid for Barnes & Noble Inc., touting the potential of the bookseller’s Nook e-reader and the vast network of retail stores it can use to promote it.Voices
Liberty Media Bids for Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble Inc. said that Liberty Media Corp. has offered to buy the bookseller in a deal valuing it at about $1 billion. Barnes & Noble shares were up 20 percent in after-hours trading Thursday on the news, matching the $17-a-share offer price from John Malone’s media empire.
News Byte
Barry Diller and John Malone Complete Their Divorce
Barry Diller and John Malone, who have been tied together for 17 years, are officially split up, for good: Malone’s Liberty Media is abandoning its majority stake in Diller’s IAC holding company and taking $220 million along with IAC’s Evite.com and Gift.com units, as parting gifts. Meanwhile Diller himself is making a smaller break with IAC by stepping down as CEO, but will remain as chairman. More details from Shira Ovide.Voices
Malone Is Fired Up by Cable and Ready to Buy
Liberty Media Chairman John Malone is fired up about cable again, believing its high speeds will give it an edge over satellite as consumers devour more entertainment digitally. The compulsive deal maker says he is looking for new investments, especially overseas, in cable, which he helped build over more than two decades as chief executive of Tele-Communications Inc. before it was sold to AT&T in 1999.
Voices
In Sun Valley, Media Chiefs Fret Over Economy
Media and technology executives and investors are sounding new alarms bells about the economy, worried it could wipe out recent growth. In an interview Thursday morning at the Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, WPP LLC chief executive Martin Sorrell cited the possible widening of Europe’s economic troubles along with the coming expiration of some tax cuts for business as among the fears of the media, entertainment and technology executives attending the annual event. “People feel that things are uncertain,” he said.
Who’s Going to Pay for Online Content? A) A Few of You B) Barely Anyone C) You’re Already Paying
The new conventional wisdom is that sooner or later, consumers will have to start paying for some of the stuff they currently get for free on the Web. But will they actually pay up? Here, the conventional wisdom is not so helpful. Nor are studies predicting consumer behavior.