Liberty Media Corp. shareholders approved a measure Tuesday that would create a new tracking stock to house its 38.5 percent investment in DirecTV.
Although Liberty’s deal to acquire a majority share of the nation’s largest satellite television provider hasn’t been finalized, Liberty is pushing forward to realize more value in its investments.
The new, third tracking stock would be called Liberty Entertainment and include DirecTV, programming entity Starz LLC., online casual game provider FUN Technologies and the company’s interest in the Game Show Network and Greenwood Village-based Wildblue Communications Inc.
The stock is expected to start trading a few days after the DirecTV deal closes. Liberty president and chief executive Greg Maffei said he “hopes it will be valued fairly.”
“We want to get it to trade the way DirecTV does as it makes up 70 percent of that stock,” he said.
The creation of Liberty Entertainment is part of a continuing effort by Liberty Media to make its holdings more attractive to shareholders as the company turns its passive financial investments into tangible, operating companies.
Maffei said he hopes the DirecTV deal closes in the next few weeks, but, if not, it should close before the end of the year.
He said he couldn’t predict which investment Liberty Media would turn into an operating asset next. He said Liberty got the “low hanging fruit” with the stock swap with News Corp. to acquire control of DirecTV.
Other deals included acquisition of the Atlanta Braves baseball team from Time Warner.
“We’re constrained by taxes and working with third parties,” he said. “We have to find a business we want to buy; they have to want to sell it.”
Liberty Media owns interests in a range of electronic retailing, media, communications and entertainment businesses.
Until the creation of Liberty Entertainment, those companies were divided into two tracking stock groups:
Liberty Interactive group, which included interests in QVC, Provide Commerce, IAC/InterActiveCorp, and Expedia.
And Liberty Capital group, which included Starz, News Corp. and Time Warner.
A tracking stock is designed to allow shareholders to invest in a certain segment of a company’s holdings.
Liberty Media is based in Douglas County and controlled by cable pioneer John Malone.
Kimberly S. Johnson: 303-954-1088 or kjohnson@denverpost.com
Three pieces of Liberty
Major assets of Liberty Media’s tracking stocks, with its ownership percentage:
Liberty Capital
Liberty Interactive
Liberty Entertainment
Source: Liberty Media Corp.
