Advanced Television

Liberty Media to spin-off Starz

January 9, 2013

By Chris Forrester

John Malone’s Liberty Media has confirmed it is to spin-off its Starz group of premium film channels. In typical Malone fashion the result will be two new divisions of Nasdaq stock, Starz A and Starz B shares (listed as STRZA and STRZB). The new shares will be issued to Liberty stock-holders on January 11th.  But there’s a neat, typically Malone, twist.

Malone has structured the deal so that it seems as if Starz is spinning off Liberty Media!  Liberty’s other key assets (Sirius-XM, Atlanta Braves, Live Nation as well as its holdings in Time Warner and Viacom) will end up in a holding company called Liberty Spinco.  We trust that you are following this complicated route, but it gets worse.

Shares in Spinco will be doled out this coming Monday, which will evidently trade for a short period before changing their name to – Liberty Media.

 

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