Liberty Media cuts Malone's voting power as he exits chairman emeritus role

Liberty Media

05/11/2026 15:48

Nov 5 (Reuters) - Formula 1-owner Liberty Media FWONA.O said on Thursday it reduced the voting power of entities related to billionaire John Malone to about 3% from roughly 48%, in a move that will also see him step down from the chairman emeritus role.
Shares of the company rose 9%. Cable TV pioneer Malone will remain as a senior adviser, Liberty Media said.

The company acquired all of the high-vote Series B common shares held by the entities, known as the Malone Holders, in exchange for shares of its low-vote Series A and non-voting Series C common stock
The transaction followed unsolicited offers from third parties for the Series B shares
Liberty Media said the Malone Holders had owned about 2.3 million Series B shares, representing about 97% of the outstanding shares of that class
The transaction eliminates the possibility of a transfer of the Malone Holders’ voting power to a third party and better aligns Malone's voting power with his economic ownership of Liberty Media, the company said
No single shareholder owns more than 9% of the company's voting power now, it said
“The Transaction allows me to increase my economic ownership of Liberty Media while distributing voting power more broadly among Liberty Media’s other shareholders," Malone said
Liberty Media also adopted a shareholder rights plan to reduce the likelihood of any entity accumulating significant voting power without board review




 (Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed)
 ((Jaspreet.Singh@thomsonreuters.com; on X @i_jass;))