Cable Billionaire John Malone To Step Down As Chair Of Liberty Empire

John Malone, the billionaire cable-TV mogul, is stepping aside as chairman of two major companies in his media and telecommunications empire, part of the continued winding down of his role as a master architect of some of the most significant media and cable deals of the last half-century. 

Malone, 84, will cede his position as chair of Liberty Global effective Jan. 1 and will be succeeded by the company’s Chief Executive Officer Mike Fries, according to a statement on Wednesday. Malone is also turning over the chairmanship of Liberty Media to Robert Bennett, who was a previous CEO of the company.

“Serving as Chairman of Liberty Global over the past 20 years has been a tremendous journey,” Malone said in the statement. “From our early investments to the creation of Liberty Global and the many chapters that followed, the return to long-term shareholders has been outstanding — and getting there has been, like the industry itself, never dull and a lot of fun.”

Malone will stay on as chairman emeritus of both companies. He will continue to manage his personal venture capital portfolio and retain his stake in the Atlanta Braves baseball team. He is also still chairman of GCI Liberty Inc., an Alaskan phone company.

Nicknamed the “Cable Cowboy,” and the ringleader of the “cable Cosa Nostra,” Malone rescued Tele-Communications Inc. from near bankruptcy in the 1970s and transformed it into a dominant force in the early days of cable and broadband. By 1993, TCI had cornered about a quarter of the US cable TV market before AT&T Inc. agreed to buy it for $48 billion in 1998. 

Today, his far-flung Liberty Media Corp. empire includes stakes in SiriusXM Holdings Inc., the Formula One racing circuit, baseball’s Atlanta Braves and concert promoter Live Nation Entertainment Inc. Liberty Global is one of the biggest cable-TV and internet companies in Europe.

Fries, 62, currently serves as chairman of Liberty Latin America and Sunrise Communications AG, two spinoffs of Liberty Global. He has served as CEO since the company was formed in 2005 and was a co-founder of its predecessor more than 35 years ago. 

Bennett has been vice chair of Liberty Media’s board since January and a member of the executive committee for more than 15 years. 

Malone said he’s not going far and that he’ll remain one of Liberty Global’s largest shareholders.

“I’m not retiring from business, but I am looking to reduce travel and time commitments,” Malone said. “This transition will allow me to do so while ensuring continuity for the company and its stakeholders.”

Malone, whose net worth is $10.6 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, has been taking steps to simplify the famously complicated ownership arrangements at his companies. The industry veteran’s shift away from day-to-day leadership has been well telegraphed. 

Malone released a new memoir this fall. He stepped down from the board of Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. earlier this year after previously announcing plans to restructure his holdings in the Braves and Live Nation. In May, Charter Communications Inc., the largest cable provider in the US, which Malone controls through Liberty Broadband Corp., agreed to merge with Cox Communications Inc. in a deal valued at $34.5 billion. 

Liberty Global, has been aggressively managing its portfolio and disposing of assets as part of a broader restructuring, including slashing hundreds of jobs to reduce operating costs. Earlier this month, it sold a 5% stake in the media company ITV Plc following a decade-long decline in the company’s share price. Two weeks ago, Apple Inc. struck a five-year deal with Liberty Media for exclusive television rights to Formula One races in the US. 

In an interview about his book earlier this year, Malone said that retirement to him means extricating himself from the public corporations and boards. But he still has “a ton of private businesses that I’m still going to be involved in and that are sort of my meat and potatoes, everything from ranching, farming, forestry, multifamily, horse racing.” Malone said he might stay involved in some “corporate architecture.” The idea of “value creation” is still “fun to play with,” he said. “That’s retirement for me.”