Georgetown, Del. – Billionaire John Malone and other former directors of Tele-Communications Inc. won a judge’s approval of the $52 million settlement of a shareholder lawsuit over the cable-television provider’s 1999 sale to AT&T Corp.
Former TCI board members agreed to the settlement in October, on the eve of a trial. Shareholders claimed the $59 billion buyout was unfair and sought $275 million in damages.
Judge William Chandler III approved the settlement at a hearing Thursday as “fair, reasonable and adequate, and in the best interests” of all shareholders. He awarded the shareholders’ lawyers $16.4 million in fees and expenses.
AT&T bought Arapahoe County-based TCI as part of plan to offer a package of phone, cable and Internet services to U.S. customers. SBC Communications Inc., based in San Antonio, acquired AT&T in 2005 for $16.5 billion and changed its name to AT&T Inc.
Malone, 65, is chairman of Liberty Media Corp., based in Doug las County. John Orr, a spokesman for Malone and Liberty Media, declined to comment on the settlement Thursday. Jamie Anderson, an AT&T spokesperson, didn’t immediately return voice and e-mail messages seeking comment.
AT&T issued 439 million shares in the all-stock purchase of TCI and left it up to Malone and the TCI board to decide how to allocate them, the investors said in the lawsuit.
