John Malone never fails to surprise. The cable pioneer whose tough tactics earned him the nickname Darth Vader shocked Wall Street seven years ago when he sold TCI to AT&T for more than $50 billion. Last week, without warning, he spun off Discovery to shareholders. He even alarmed Rupert Murdoch, scooping up voting shares in News Corp., becoming its largest outside shareholder and setting off speculation that he might make a run on his old pal's $58 billion family business. His Liberty Media owns stakes in an enviable portfolio of U.S. programming (QVC, Starz, Court TV) while his Liberty International, which was spun off last summer, is now the largest cable operator outside the U.S. B&C Executive Editor Mark Robichaux caught up with the reclusive 64-year-old last week. An updated version of Robichaux's book, Cable Cowboy: John Malone and the rise of the modern cable industry, will be available in paperback later this month.
展开▼
