Liberty Media Corp (NASDAQ:LMCA) (NASDAQ:LMCB) made a bid to acquire the rest of Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) in January, but now, the company has dropped that bid. Apparently shareholders are pretty happy with that. Currently Liberty Media owns 53% of Sirius XM, and the company has said it may still be interested in buying the rest of it. For now though, the deal is off the table.
Shares of Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) also increased today, rising as much as 3% in the wake of the announcement.
Liberty Media also rising for other reasons
Forbes staff writer Brian Solomon notes that shares of Liberty Media Corp (NASDAQ:LMCA) (NASDAQ:LMCB) are not only receiving a benefit from the fact that the deal with Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) is off. He said John Malone’s other business maneuvers have given Liberty Media shares a boost as well.
The billionaire is known for cutting up his companies into a number of tracking stocks. His companies typically have stock structures which are quite complicated. This time, he has announced that he is splitting Liberty Media Corp (NASDAQ:LMCA) (NASDAQ:LMCB)’s media and cable assets. The two new tracking stocks will likely trade as Liberty Broadband Media Group and Liberty Media Group.
How the new Liberty Media stocks work
In a press release on Thursday, Liberty Media Corp (NASDAQ:LMCA) (NASDAQ:LMCB) said its board authorized management to look into creating the two tracking stocks. Record holders of Liberty Media’s Series A and Series B common stock each will receive a share of the corresponding Liberty Media tracking stock and four shares of the corresponding series of Liberty Broadband tracking stock for each share of Liberty common stock they hold. Shareholders will also receive a “subscription right” to buy one more Series A or Series B share of Liberty Broadband for every five shares of Series A or Series B Liberty Broadband stock they receive in the distribution.
Liberty Media Corp (NASDAQ:LMCA) (NASDAQ:LMCB) will include the interests in Charter Communications Inc. and Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC), along with its subsidiary TruePosition in the Liberty Broadband Group. The group will also receive a note obligation to the Liberty Media Group and a call option liability associated with the Time Warner shares and liabilities at TruePosition. Any cash raised from the exercise of Liberty Broadband subscription rights will be attributed to the Liberty Broadband group as well.
The Liberty Media Group would receive all of the other businesses, including Liberty Media Corp (NASDAQ:LMCA) (NASDAQ:LMCB)’s interest in Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI).
