TIP619: The Cable Cowboy: John Malone w/ Kyle Grieve

We Study Billionaires - The Investor’s Podcast Network

Stig Brodersen

Education, Investing, Business

4.6 • 3.6K Ratings

🗓️ 31 March 2024

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In today’s episode, Kyle Grieve discusses the book Cable Cowboy: John Malone and the Rise of the Modern Cable Business. He covers why and how John Malone was such a prodigious creator of value, how he aligned himself with shareholders, how he helped build his monopoly-like business, TCI, how he dealt with competitors and regulators, why he trained Wall Street to see value differently, why Malone despised paying taxes, how Malone engineered deals to enrich himself and shareholder simultaneously, and much more! IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN: 00:00 - Intro 07:41 - Why John Malone chose to work for TCI at a significant discount 09:52 - How Malone kept costs down to maximize cash flow 16:24 - How John Malone used his knowledge of scale and leverage to build TCI 19:08 - How John created his accounting terms to best display TCI's abilities to create value 27:57 - How Malone used his scale advantages to secure better rates from programmers 36:34 - The monopoly-like power that TCI could yield that featured its bargaining power 38:17 - How Malone created life-changing wealth for himself from the Liberty Media spin-off 42:54 - Why John invented the 500-channel offering and how it protected the cable industry 45:51 - Malone's tactics to try and divert attention away from TCI's monopoly-like power 50:58 - How John Malone quickly improved TCI's financial statements through industry consolidation Disclaimer: Slight discrepancies in the timestamps may occur due to podcast platform differences. BOOKS AND RESOURCES Join the exclusive TIP Mastermind Community to engage in meaningful stock investing discussions with Stig, Clay, Kyle, and the other community members. Get Cable Cowboy here Learn more about the Berkshire Summit by clicking here or emailing Clay at [email protected] Follow Kyle on Twitter and LinkedIn Check out all the books mentioned and discussed in our podcast episodes here. Enjoy ad-free episodes when you subscribe to our Premium Feed. NEW TO THE SHOW? Follow our official social media accounts: X (Twitter) | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok. Check out our We Study Billionaires Starter Packs. Browse through all our episodes (complete with transcripts) here. Try our tool for picking stock winners and managing our portfolios: TIP Finance Tool. Enjoy exclusive perks from our favorite Apps and Services. Stay up-to-date on financial markets and investing strategies through our daily newsletter, We Study Markets. Learn how to better start, manage, and grow your business with the best business podcasts. SPONSORS Support our free podcast by supporting our sponsors: River Toyota NetSuite CI Financial Fidelity Wise TurboTax Fundrise NDTCO Linkedin Marketing Solutions Vacasa Babbel Shopify HELP US OUT! Help us reach new listeners by leaving us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts! It takes less than 30 seconds, and really helps our show grow, which allows us to bring on even better guests for you all! Thank you – we really appreciate it! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://theinvestorspodcastnetwork.supportingcast.fm

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to T. I. P. The first time I heard of John Malone was reading The Outsiders by William Thorndyke. I found John's story in the book very captivating.
0:09.0	When I learned there was a book written about him, I eagerly read it and based in the education I gained from reading it.
0:14.3	John Malone understood capital allocation better than most CEOs I've ever encountered.
0:18.8	He understood taxes, alignment, his industry, and shareholder value at an incredibly high level.
0:24.0	He also knew his advantages and disadvantages and leveraged all of them to help him make a fortune for shareholders of TCI and Liberty Media, including himself.
0:32.0	John was forced to navigate the regulatory headwinds constantly thrown at him.
0:36.0	He consistently had to try to downplay TCI's power to keep creating value for shareholders.
0:41.0	And the value he made was phenomenal, compounding value for TCI's share. for one thing that stood out to me was his heavy emphasis on creating shareholder value.
0:54.3	During the beginning of his career, this was his sole focus.
0:57.7	As a result, his net worth was increasing, but less than similarly positioned people in the cable
1:01.7	industry. In one of the rare instances I've
1:03.7	seen, he was able to pat his pockets very quickly while generating life-changing wealth for
1:08.6	his shareholders. John Malone was a faithful steward of shareholder value and did everything he could to uphold that value.
1:15.8	If you want a deep dive into one of the greatest value creators in history, you won't want to miss this episode.
1:21.0	Now, let's get into this week's episode discussing the cable cowboy John Malone.
1:27.0	Celebrating 10 years and more than 150 million downloads.
1:33.0	You are listening to the Investors Podcast Network.
1:36.0	Since 2014, we studied the financial markets
1:39.0	and read the books that influence self-made billionaires the most.
1:42.0	We keep you informed and prepared for the unexcioner. that influence self-made billionaires the most.
1:42.6	We keep you informed and prepared for the unexpected.
1:46.0	Now for your host host Kyle Grieve and today we'll be
	...

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