Liberty Media announced Wednesday that it will spin off most of its non-F1 auto racing assets into a separate publicly traded company called Liberty Live, and CEO Greg Maffei will step down at the end of the year.
Chairman John Malone will become interim CEO of Liberty Media. Liberty Media’s Investor Day is scheduled to be held in Manhattan on Thursday.
While Mr. Malone, 83, will once again reign as CEO, the move will simplify his empire and continue to shrink Liberty, said Chris Malangi, co-CIO of value at Gabelli Funds.
“Malone accelerated the surfacing and simplification of value,” Marangi said in an interview. “Liberty has come a long way as an independent company over more than 20 years, creating tremendous shareholder value. We are in the final stages.”
Following the split, Liberty Media will own F1, which Liberty acquired in 2016 and subsequently spun out as a tracking stock, as well as MotoGP upon completion of the transaction. Liberty Live will own approximately 69.9 million shares of Live Nation Entertainment, sports experience provider Quinto and other assets, according to the release.
The company also announced that the cable giant charter communications It will acquire Liberty Broadband in an all-stock transaction. In September, Liberty Broadband announced its intention to merge with Charter to simplify Malone’s portfolio. Liberty Broadband owns 26% of Charter.
The separation 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.
“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 our Liberty Live stock, and reduce the liquidity of transactions in both entities. should increase,” Maffei said in the release.
“Following today’s announcements in Liberty Media and Liberty Broadband, all Liberty acquisitions completed during my tenure have been structured to provide more direct returns to shareholders,” Maffei said in a separate release. ,” it said in a separate release. “Leaving a dynamic organization like Liberty is never easy, but I believe now is the right time.”
Mr. Maffei has been with Liberty since 2005 and holds various positions on the board of directors of the company’s assets, including Charter.
Malone is a pioneer in the cable industry, long known as the “Cable Cowboy,” and has dabbled in a variety of media properties over the years. He serves as an independent director warner bros discovery — originally through Discovery and under his advice before the company merged with Warner Bros.
He serves as Chairman of the Board of Liberty Media, Liberty Broadband and Liberty Global. Although Mr. Malone remains an active investor and voice in the industry, it is notable that he has been appointed interim CEO of Liberty Media.
Mr. Malone, a secretive trader, is known for his shrewd financial dealings and for keeping his companies independent and tracking stocks. Malone is infamous for running and building the cable empire TCI in the 1970s. He sold TCI to AT&T in 1999 for about $50 billion.
