John Malone, Greg Maffei Question Justice Department’s Anti-Trust Stance on Media Mergers
Liberty Media chiefs John Malone and Greg Maffei have voiced skepticism about the Justice Department’s approach to evaluating anti-trust concerns in relation to media mergers.
The pair spoke in New York on Thursday as Liberty Media and affiliates held their annual investor day presentation. Neither Malone, Liberty Media chairman, or Maffei, CEO, mentioned the AT&T-Time Warner merger by name but the pair were asked to comment on the prospect of the Justice Department adopting a much stricter standard for mergers in the Trump administration.
Malone, a renowned media investor, has been predicting a wave of consolidation of mature content and distribution businesses for some time. Earlier in the day, Malone told CNBC’s David Faber in an interview that Amazon was akin to a “Death Star” that was a major threat to traditional media as well as other industries given its size and scale.
In this context, Justice Department efforts to block the vertical merger of AT&T’s distribution businesses with Time Warner’s content companies is curious, the executives said.
“The traditional content business is really challenged,” Maffei said. “The idea that you’re going to block consolidation is crazy.”
Malone got a laugh with quip: “I personally have very little insight into what the anti-trust division is smoking these days,” he said.
Malone noted that Discovery Communications, in which he is a major shareholder, has seen the approval process of its acquisition of Scripps Network Interactive move more slowly than expected, although he has no lack of confidence the deal will be approved.
Malone acknowledged that politics is a factor when it comes to the content arena at present.
“With respect to the content business, it’s extremely politically sensitive — perhaps more than it’s been in a long while,” he said.
More to come
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