New York – John Malone’s Liberty Media Corp. said swapping the company’s stake in Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. for an operating asset such as satellite-television operator DirecTV would be “attractive” and bolster its ability to distribute media content such as television shows and movies, a Liberty official said Wednesday.
Greg Maffei, chief executive and president of Douglas County-based Liberty, told an investor conference he would not comment on the status of any talks between the two companies but said his side wasn’t in any hurry to get a deal done because of a recent run-up in News Corp. shares.
On Monday, News Corp. chief operating officer Peter Chernin said discussions about DirecTV were ongoing. News Corp. owns about 39 percent of DirecTV.
“I’ll let Peter do the talking for everybody. That seems to be News’ specialty,” Maffei said.
Liberty quickly acquired a 19 percent stake in News Corp. in recent quarters, and Murdoch has made no secret of his desire to reduce Malone’s influence on his media empire. That sparked talk of an asset swap.
If Liberty were to sell the stake, it would have to pay taxes on any profits. But by swapping the interest for an operating asset such as DirecTV, Liberty would reduce its tax liability.
