John Malone | |
---|---|
Born | John Carl Malone March 7, 1941 Milford, Connecticut, U.S. |
Education | Yale University (BA) New York University (MS) Johns Hopkins University (MS, PhD) |
Occupation | Businessman |
Title | Chairman of Liberty Media, Liberty Global, and Qurate Retail Group |
Spouse | Leslie Malone |
Children | 2 |
John Carl Malone (born March 7, 1941) is an American billionaire businessman, landowner, and philanthropist. He was chief executive officer (CEO) of Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI), a cable and media giant, for twenty-four years from 1973 to 1996. Malone is now chairman and largest voting shareholder of Liberty Media, Liberty Global, and Qurate Retail Group (formerly known as Liberty Interactive), and also owned 7% of Lionsgate and Starz Inc. [1] [2] [3] [4] He was interim CEO of Liberty Media, until succeeded by former Microsoft and Oracle CFO Greg Maffei.
Malone is ranked as the second-largest private landowner in the United States, possessing 2.2 million acres (890,000 hectares), which is more than twice the size of Rhode Island. According to The Land Report's annual rankings, Malone ranked as the largest landowner in America from 2011 to 2021. [5]
John C. Malone was born on March 7, 1941, in Milford, Connecticut. [6] [7] His father was Daniel L. Malone, an engineer. [8] Malone is of Irish heritage, his family originating in County Cork. [9] [10] [11] Malone is a Catholic. [12]
In 1959, Malone graduated from Hopkins School in New Haven, Connecticut. In 1963, he graduated from Yale University with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and economics, [13] where he was a Phi Beta Kappa and National Merit scholar. In 1964, Malone graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a master's degree in industrial management. [13] He received a master's in electrical engineering at an NYU program at Bell Labs in 1965 before receiving his PhD in operations research at Johns Hopkins in 1967. [14]
In 1963, Malone began his business career at Bell Telephone Laboratories of AT&T, working in economic planning and research and development. In 1968, he joined McKinsey & Company, and in 1970, became group vice president at General Instrument Corporation (GI). He was later president of Jerrold Electronics, a GI subsidiary. For twenty-four years, from 1973 to 1996, Malone served as president and CEO of Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI). [13]
Malone is on the boards of directors for Bank of New York Mellon, Expedia.com, Charter Communications, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. [15] [16] Malone is chairman emeritus of Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. and chairman of Liberty Global, Inc., and formerly the DirecTV Group. [14] His rise to chairman at Liberty Global was contentious at times.
In 2005, Malone held 32 percent of the shares in the media company News Corporation, and although only about half were voting shares, Rupert Murdoch reportedly had concerns that he might lose control of his company to Malone, and tried to oust him from the firm with a "poison pill" strategy. [17] He was director of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) from 1974 to 1977, and again from 1980 to 1993. During the 1977–1978 term, Malone was the NCTA's treasurer. [14]
In 1992, Malone coined the term 500-channel universe to describe a future media environment where a vast number of TV channels would be available, by eliminating the need for broadcast radio channels as a scarce resource. [18]
In business dealings Malone has been dubbed "Darth Vader", a nickname allegedly given to him by Al Gore when Malone was the head of TCI. [19]
In 1994, Wired portrayed Malone on their cover as "Mad Max" from The Road Warrior (also known as Mad Max 2), with an interview describing his battles with the FCC. [20] He is also known as the "Cable Cowboy". [21]
Bloomberg estimated him to be worth over US$9 billion in May 2021. [22]
Malone owns Silver Spur Ranches, a ranching and beef company which includes the Silver Spur Ranch in Encampment, Wyoming, Bell Ranch and the TO Ranch in New Mexico, Bridlewood Farm, a thoroughbred breeding, training and racing operation in Ocala, Florida; as well as ranches in Walden, Colorado, and Kiowa, Colorado. [7] [23] His international real estate holdings include Humewood Castle [24] and Castlemartin House and Estate, both in Ireland.
As of 1 February 2011 [update] , he surpassed Ted Turner as the largest individual private landowner in the US, owning 2,200,000 acres (8,900 km2) of land, much of which is in Maine, Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming. [25] Malone held the top spot as America's largest landowner for 10 years, according to the 2022 The Land Report's ranking of the top 100 U.S. landowners. In 2021, the ranking listed Malone as the second largest landowner behind the Emmerson Family. [26]
In 2000, Malone gave $24 million to the Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science in New Haven for the construction of Yale's Daniel L. Malone Engineering Center, named in honor of his father. [8]
In 2011, Malone gave the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering in Baltimore its largest gift ever of $30 million for a new building on Homewood Campus. [13] The building will be named Malone Hall. [27]
In the same year, he gave the Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science's largest gift ever of $50 million. [8]
Malone has also given $60 million to Hopkins School in New Haven to fund the construction of two new buildings, Malone Science Center, named for his father, as well as Heath Commons, named after his favorite Hopkins teacher.
In 2014, Malone and his wife donated $42.5 million to Colorado State University to help create their Institute for Biologic Translational Therapies, which aims to develop stem cell and other treatments for animals and people. Of the donation, $32.5 million will pay for half the construction costs and $10 million will go to operational expenses. [28]
In 2021, the Malones donated $25 million to Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine, for the hospital’s $534 million capital improvement project. Maine Medical Center will name a new tower for cardiac and vascular services the Malone Family Tower; Leslie Malone recently received cardiac care at the hospital. [29]
In 1997, he established the Malone Family Foundation, which operates the Malone Scholars Program that provides scholarship endowments to certain private schools throughout the United States. [30]
Malone is married to Leslie, they have two children and live in Elizabeth, Colorado. [31] [32] His wife is active in dressage and horse breeding and she founded Harmony Sporthorses in Kiowa, Colorado. [33] In 2008, their son Evan D. Malone joined the board of Liberty Media. [34] [35] Malone reportedly shuns the limelight and glamorous lifestyle, taking his family vacations alongside long-time friend Gary Biskup in a recreational vehicle. [36] [37] The State of Colorado named Malone a "Citizen of the West" in 2016. [38] [39]
Malone's political beliefs have been described as libertarian. [40] He is on the board of directors for the Cato Institute. He donated US$250,000 to Donald Trump. He also expressed support for Michael Bloomberg in the 2020 United States presidential election. [41]
Michael Rubens Bloomberg is an American businessman and politician. He is the majority owner and co-founder of Bloomberg L.P., and was its CEO from 1981 to 2001 and again from 2014 to 2023. He served as the mayor of New York City for three terms from 2002 to 2013 and was a candidate for the 2020 Democratic nomination for president of the United States. In 2024, Bloomberg received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Joe Biden. He has served as chair of the Defense Innovation Board, an independent advisory board that provides recommendations on artificial intelligence, software, data and digital modernization to the United States Department of Defense, since June 2022.
Darth Vader is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. He was first introduced in the original film trilogy as one of the leaders of the Galactic Empire. The prequel trilogy chronicles his transformation from the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker into the Sith Lord Darth Vader. His metamorphosis begins when he is lured to the dark side of the Force by Chancellor Palpatine, who later becomes the Emperor. After a lightsaber battle with his former mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi, Vader is severely injured and is transformed into a cyborg. He serves Palpatine for over two decades, hunting down the remaining Jedi and attempting to crush the Rebel Alliance. When Palpatine tries to kill Vader's son, Luke Skywalker, the Sith Lord turns against his master and destroys him. Vader is the husband of Padmé Amidala, the father of Luke and his twin sister Leia Organa, and the grandfather of Ben Solo.
Liberty Media Corporation is an American mass media company founded by John C. Malone in 1991. The company has three divisions, reflecting its ownership stakes in Formula One Group, Sirius XM, and Live Nation Entertainment. The Sirius XM Holdings segment operates two audio entertainment companies, Sirius XM and Pandora. Sirius XM offers channels and information and entertainment services. Pandora is a streaming platform for searching for music and podcasts. As of 2024, Liberty Media is set to own three global motorsport businesses in the form of Formula One, Grand Prix motorcycle racing and World Superbikes.
Tele-Communications, Inc. (TCI) was a cable television provider in the United States, and for most of its history was controlled by Bob Magness and John Malone.
Liberty Global Ltd. is a British-Dutch-American multinational telecommunications company domiciled in Bermuda, with headquarters in London, Amsterdam and Denver. Its respective legal names are Liberty Global Holdings Limited (UK), Liberty Global B.V. (Netherlands) and Liberty Global, Inc., with the first of these being publicly traded. It was formed in 2005 by the merger of the international arm of Liberty Media and UnitedGlobalCom (UGC).
Charter Communications, Inc., is an American telecommunications and mass media company with services branded as Spectrum. The company is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut.
Prime Sports is the collective name for a former group of regional sports networks in the United States that were owned by Liberty Media, operating from November 1988 to October 31, 1996. While Liberty owned many of these networks, some of Prime's member networks were owned by other companies, and carried programming distributed for the group through affiliation agreements. As a result, Prime-affiliated networks had the right to select Prime Network programs to broadcast.
Sir Leonard Valentinovich Blavatnik is a Soviet/Ukrainian-born British-American businessman and philanthropist. In 2024, Forbes estimated his net worth at $32.1 billion, ranking him the 52nd-richest person in the world. In 2017, Blavatnik received a knighthood for services to philanthropy.
The Bell Ranch is a historic ranch in Tucumcari, New Mexico, United States of America. Owned by John Malone since 2010, it is one of the largest privately owned ranches in the United States. As of 2021, Malone is the second largest land owner in the country with 2.2 million acres. The ranch became a national landmark in 1974.
Robert Naify was an American businessman and motion picture and media tycoon known for his ownership of the movie theaters chain United Artists Theatres, the largest and most geographically diverse theatre circuit in the United States, today part of Regal Cinemas. He also founded the cable company United Artists Communications Inc and post-production and sound mixing firm Todd-AO. He lived in San Francisco, California until his death on April 7, 2016 at the age of 94.
John Alfred Paulson is an American billionaire hedge fund manager. He leads Paulson & Co., a New York–based investment management firm he founded in 1994. He has been called "one of the most prominent names in high finance".
Johann Georg "Hansjörg" Wyss is a Swiss billionaire businessman and donor to politically liberal and environmental causes in the United States. He is the founder and former president and chairman of Synthes, a medical device manufacturer. His Wyss Foundation has more than $2 billion in assets.
Qurate Retail, Inc., also known as Qurate Retail Group, is an American media conglomerate controlled by company chairman John C. Malone, who owns a majority of the voting shares.
Root Sports Utah was an American regional sports network that was owned by the AT&T Sports Networks subsidiary of AT&T Inc., as part of the AT&T SportsNet brand of networks and is an affiliate of Fox Sports Networks. Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, the channel broadcasts regional coverage of sports events throughout Utah, namely the NBA's Utah Jazz and college teams including the Utah State Aggies, Utah Utes, BYU Cougars, and several other schools. Root Sports Utah was available on cable providers throughout the state of Utah, and nationwide on satellite via DirecTV and Dish Network.
Humewood Castle is a 32,668 square feet (3,035.0 m2) Gothic-fantasy mansion built in 1870 in 427 acres of parkland at Kiltegan, County Wicklow in Ireland. The mansion was originally built as a private residence of the Hume family. As of 2024, it is owned by American billionaire John C. Malone.
Starz Inc. is an American entertainment company and a subsidiary of Lionsgate. It is headquartered at Meridian, Colorado, and uses nearby Englewood as its location in corporate filings and press releases.
Joseph Chung-Hsin Tsai (Chinese: 蔡崇信; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Chhòa Chông-sìn; born January 1964) is a Taiwanese-Canadian billionaire business magnate, lawyer, and philanthropist. He is a cofounder and chairman of the Chinese multinational technology company Alibaba Group and owns the Brooklyn Nets of the American National Basketball Association (NBA), the New York Liberty of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), the San Diego Seals of the National Lacrosse League (NLL), and has interests in several other professional sports franchises. Tsai's net worth is estimated to be US$8.1 billion.
Brendan Roy Clouston, Baron of Dunure is a Canadian billionaire, former CEO and president of the telecoms company, Tele-Communications Inc.
Stefan Quinn Soloviev is an American businessman who is the Chairman of the Soloviev Group, the parent company of Crossroads Agriculture, the Colorado Pacific Railroad, the Soloviev Building Corporation, Weskan Grain, and other business entities. He took over the Solow Building Corporation from his father Sheldon Solow, after his death on November 17, 2020.
Jerome H. Kern is an American lawyer, investment banker, consultant, and philanthropist. Kern was one of the founding members of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. After a career in investment banking, he served as a senior partner of Shea & Gould, then at Baker Botts, while holding senior leadership positions at Tele-Communications Inc. In the early 2000s, he was CEO of Linkshare, On Command, and Playboy. He was also chairman and CEO of Colorado Symphony and is currently a senior advisor to Moelis & Company.
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