LONDON John Malones Liberty Global struck a deal on Tuesday to buy British cable group Virgin Media for about $15.75bn in stock and cash, a move that would put the US billionaire up against old rival Rupert Murdoch. <\/p>\n
The companies announced the deal in a statement late on Tuesday, after Virgin Media, the second-biggest pay-TV provider in Britain behind Murdochs satellite group BSkyB, confirmed Libertys approach earlier in the day. <\/p>\n
Including debt, the deal would be worth more than $23bn and would give Liberty entry to one of Europes biggest and most competitive telecom markets, allowing it to apply lessons learned as a pay-TV and broadband provider in 11 other European countries. <\/p>\n
It would also put Mr Malones Liberty in a strong position to challenge Mr Murdoch as cable groups across the region start to assert their authority over traditional telecoms firms with the offer of super-fast broadband and pay-television. <\/p>\n
Liberty will pay about $47.02 for each Virgin Media share based on Tuesdays closing prices, using cash and shares of its class A and C stock. Before news of the bid emerged in a Financial Times report on Monday, the bid represented a 24% premium to where Virgins shares had been trading. <\/p>\n
Mr Malone, whose group has 19.6-million customers, came up against Murdoch a decade ago when Murdochs News Corp. and Liberty Media vied for control of DirecTV Group, the largest US satellite TV broadcaster. <\/p>\n
The stand-off ended when both sides backed down. News Corp. sold its one-third stake in DirecTV to Malones group and Malone sold 16% of News Corp that Liberty had acquired, giving the Murdochs fuller control over their company. <\/p>\n
Dubbed everything from the Cable Guy to Cable Cowboy and even Darth Vader by former US vice-president Al Gore because of his perceived ruthless style, Mr Malone made his fortune through a series of deals that transformed, and ultimately consolidated, the US cable industry into one dominated by a few big players. <\/p>\n
Mr Murdochs BSkyB leads the British pay-TV market with 10.7-million customers compared to Virgin Medias 4.9-million. <\/p>\n
Virgin Media emerged two years ago from years of heavy losses from a costly network expansion. But its cables still only cover half of Britain and analysts see potential for more growth. <\/p>\n
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Liberty Global buys Virgin Media<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" LONDON John Malones Liberty Global struck a deal on Tuesday to buy British cable group Virgin Media for about $15.75bn in stock and cash, a move that would put the US billionaire up against old rival Rupert Murdoch. Continue reading