Changes At Liberty Media; Maffei Exiting
• Big day around the Liberty Media campus, as the company announced several high profile moves, starting with the news that longtime President & CEO Greg Maffei (pictured) will be stepping down from his role at the end of 2024 and will serve as a Senior Advisor, effective Jan. 1. Liberty Media Chairman, John Malone will assume the role of interim CEO and will work closely with the Liberty Media executive team and the Board of Directors to ensure a seamless transition.
As the release’s headline stated, Maffei’s departure will happen “in conjunction with transactions to simplify corporate structure” — among those moves: Liberty Media plans to spin off Liberty Live Group — which includes its 30% stake in Live Nation Entertainment. As a result of that split-off, Liberty Media and the newly created Liberty Live would be separate publicly traded companies, and Liberty Media would no longer have a tracking stock structure. Liberty Live will hold approximately 69.6 million shares of Live Nation along with sports and entertainment hospitality company Quint and certain private assets currently attributed to Liberty Live Group. Liberty Media expects to complete the split-off of Liberty Live in the second half of 2025.
And there’s more — Charter Communications and Liberty Broadband Corporation have inked a definitive agreement under which Charter has agreed to acquire Liberty Broadband in an all-stock transaction. Liberty Broadband consists primarily of a 26% stake in Charter and Alaskan telecommunications subsidiary GCI, the later of which will be spun off. The companies currently expect the deal to close on June 30, 2027.
Malone remarked, “On behalf of the Liberty Media board, I’d like to thank Greg for his leadership, creativity and dedication. Since joining in 2005, Greg has been at the forefront of the exciting evolution in the lifecycle of Liberty. He has grown our asset base and made the company better and more valuable for shareholders, along the way overseeing as many as five separate public companies simultaneously. Especially following today’s transaction announcements, our company is simpler and more focused than ever before, which is a perfect capstone for Greg’s accomplished career at Liberty. I wish Greg continued success as he embarks on his next chapter and appreciate his continued support as an Advisor.”
Maffei commented, “The almost 20 years I have spent at the helm of Liberty Media have been incredibly rewarding, stimulating and endlessly eventful. Following today’s announcements at Liberty Media and Liberty Broadband, all the Liberty acquisitions completed during my tenure are now in structures where shareholders can have more direct ownership in their upside. The corporate structure is optimized, and the portfolio companies are in strong positions with talented executive teams in place.” He added, “While it’s never easy to leave an organization as dynamic as Liberty, I am confident that this is the right time. I have thoroughly enjoyed working alongside and learning from John, our board, the management teams at Liberty and across the family of companies and our shareholders.”
