John C Malone

Liberty Media Corp. confirmed Thursday that it might swap its stake in News Corp. for a controlling interest in DirecTV Group Inc., a move that would thrust cable pioneer John Malone into the satellite television arena. Malone, Liberty Media's chairman, has been in discussions with News Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch over making a swap for Liberty Media's approximately 20% stake in News Corp. since Malone quietly snapped up shares in 2004.

Cable television mogul John Malone's plan to grab a bigger chunk of Rupert Murdoch's media empire might have less to do with buying in and more to do with cashing out. Malone's Liberty Media Corp. last week announced that it had purchased the right to increase its voting stake in Murdoch's News Corp. to as much as 17% from 9%. That would cost Liberty up to $1.5 billion. News Corp.

Negotiations that could lead to the merger of Turner Broadcasting System Inc. and Time Warner Inc. have slowed as the result of tough demands by John Malone, the big shareholder of Turner Broadcasting, according to sources close to Malone. As a result, a merger is unlikely to be announced today and may not be unveiled until next week if the negotiations are fruitful, according to these sources.

Turner Broadcasting System Inc. has postponed its regularly scheduled board meeting Friday because a merger agreement with Time Warner Inc. has not yet been completed, according to sources close to the talks. Negotiations continued Wednesday and could be finished by the middle of next week if the three large shareholders of Turner Broadcasting can resolve their differences, sources said.

Malone Sees Trouble for Networks: John Malone, chief executive of Tele-Communications Inc., predicts one or more of the major U.S. television networks will fall prey to takeover bids this year, according to a report in the Feb. 7 issue of the New Yorker magazine. Malone, whose giant cable company is engaged in a $33-billion merger with Bell Atlantic, told the magazine that CBS will probably be sold within 12 months.

Tele-Communications Inc. Chairman John Malone borrowed money from NationsBank of Texas to buy 7.28 million shares of TCI from Knight-Ridder Inc. In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Malone said he bought the shares from Knight-Ridder for $110.07 million, or $15.11 a share. To acquire the funds needed for the purchase, he pledged as collateral 11.5 million TCI Class B common shares and 3.08 million Class B shares of Liberty Media Group, the cable company's programming unit.

To understand the race, it's often best to watch the jockey. And that being the case, a good question after all the cheering over last week's Bell Atlantic-Tele-Communications Inc. merger deal is: Why are the two most visionary entrepreneurs in communications selling their companies? Craig McCaw, the cellular phone pioneer, agreed in August to sell McCaw Communications to American Telephone & Telegraph.

Renowned investor Warren Buffett, whose holding company is a major investor in the Washington Post and Capital Cities/ABC, has some rueful thoughts about the media business in his latest annual report. "Many media businesses," Buffett writes, "will prove considerably less marvelous than I, the industry or lenders thought would be the case only a few years ago."

Cable mogul John Malone, Rupert Murdoch's major partner in the sports business, will seek to buy a half-interest in the Dodgers if News Corp. completes the purchase of the Los Angeles baseball team, sources said. Malone's sudden emergence, which could be simply a savvy ploy by an astute negotiator, could vastly complicate efforts by Murdoch to get approval for the sale. Baseball owners have been told that News Corp. alone was making the purchase. News Corp.

Tele-Communications Inc. Chairman John Malone conceded that the sharp drop in AT&T Corp.'s stock price could kill the telephone company's $44-billion acquisition of his cable television company. A published report Monday quoted Malone as saying he was worried that AT&T shareholders might reject the takeover because of the deal's complexity and a dilution in the value of their holdings. "It scares me to death to see their stock going down," Malone told Broadcasting & Cable, a trade publication.