John Malone, Liberty Media
Scott Eells | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Liberty Media announced Wednesday that it will spin most of its assets, besides Formula 1 motorsports, into a separate publicly traded company called Liberty Live, and that 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 will take place in Manhattan on Thursday.
Following the split, Liberty Media will own Formula 1, which Liberty acquired in 2016 and later developed as a tracking stock, and MotoGP following the completion of that transaction. Liberty Live will own approximately 69.9 million shares of Live Nation Entertainment, sports experience provider Quint and certain other assets, according to a press release.
The company also announced a cable company Charter communications would acquire Liberty Broadband in an all-stock transaction. In September, Liberty Broadband made public its ambitions to merge with Charter in a bid to simplify Malone's portfolio. Liberty owns 26% of Charter shares.
“The spin-off of 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 shares and improve trading liquidity at both entities,” Maffei said in a press release.
The separation of Liberty Media and Liberty Live is expected to close in the second half of 2025, and the sale of Liberty Broadband to Charter is expected to close in mid-2027.
“Following today's announcements at Liberty Media and Liberty Broadband, all Liberty acquisitions completed during my tenure are now in structures where shareholders can have more direct ownership,” Maffei said in a separate press release. “While it is never easy to leave an organization as dynamic as Liberty, I am confident that now is the right time.”
Maffei has been part of Liberty since 2005 and holds various positions on boards of directors of the company's assets, including Charter.
Malone is a cable industry pioneer, long known as the “cable cowboy,” and has had his hand in various media assets over the years. He was an independent director of Warner Bros. Discovery – initially through Discovery, before the company merged with Warner Bros. under his advice.
He is chairman of the board of directors of Liberty Media, Liberty Broadband and Liberty Global. While the 83-year-old Malone has remained an active investor and talking head in the industry, it is notable that he is taking over as interim CEO of Liberty Media.
A stealthy dealmaker, Malone is known for his shrewd financial dealings and using his companies to track stocks.
Malone infamously ran and built the TCI cable empire in the 1970s. He sold TCI to AT&T in 1999 for about $50 billion.
This is the latest news. Check back later for updates.
