The War Of Words Between John Malone And Mel Karmazin Moves To Sun Valley

John Malone

LIBERTY MEDIA CEO JOHN MALONE used his appearance at ALLEN & CO.’s annual conference in SUN VALLEY, ID, to predict his company will eventually gain control of SIRIUSXM RADIO and spin it off as a separate venture.

LIBERTY currently owns 46% of the satcaster, and needs approval from the FCC to complete a takeover of the company.

THE NEW YORK POST reports, "When asked how LIBERTY's case with the FCC is going, MALONE said, 'I just had dinner with [FCC Chief] JULIUS GENACHOWSKI tonight'."

But SIRIUS XM CEO MEL KARMAZIN, who was noticeably absent from the conference, has continually urged the FCC to reject LIBERTY moves to take control. The FCC has already rejected the application once before.

"He has incredible incentives [to get a deal done]," MALONE told reporters at THE SUN VALLEY RESORT bar. "He's telling people he’s underpaid. It's a joke. He has $120 million worth of share options at 50 cents."

In an interview with THE WALL STREET JOURNAL in SUN VALLEY, MALONE kept up the attack.

"I'm a very long-term investor, despite my age," said MALONE, who is 71. "So I tend to be looking out 10 or 20 years, whereas I think MEL in all honesty right now has got a pretty short-term focus. I think they do an excellent job of running the company, but we would be making more investments and ... would at least look at globalizing."

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