JOHN MALONE is revered as a genius by investors and executives in the telecoms and cable businesses. The boss of Liberty, a cable and media conglomerate, he has struck more deals than perhaps any other tycoon in the world—buying and selling hundreds of firms worth over $100 billion since the 1970s, often negotiating on his own, using calculations that fit on a napkin. Unusually for an empire-builder he has made his investors a ton of money, and has little interest in the public eye.
On May 26th Mr Malone, pictured, made his biggest bet yet. A cable TV and broadband firm he backs, Charter Communications, will buy two rivals, Time Warner Cable (TWC), and Bright House, to create a giant worth $130 billion, including debt. The takeover is the sixth-largest in American history. It will make Mr Malone the world’s pre-eminent media baron. Including his radio and foreign operations he will control businesses with triple the operating profits of Rupert Murdoch’s empire. Although Comcast, run by another media titan, Brian Roberts, will still be the biggest cable operator in America—with...
from The Economist: Business http://ift.tt/1FQ3iM3
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