SD Liberty Global bought VM Ireland for the fun of it!

RichardCoulter · 26-02-2016, 17:33

It looks more and more like Southern Ireland is becoming a pet project for John Malone.

After buying the cable company some years ago, he recently bought TV3 and is planning on launching new channels over there in the genres of children, news and sports.

They paid way over the odds for the Six Nations rights so he does appear to be committed to TV3 in the long run. I've been told that many of the old management team have been shown the door since Virgin Media took over.

From an Irish Times Article last year:

Does he regard Ireland as high risk? “Personally, I really don’t care. It is a relatively small part of my assets and I am doing it because I love it, both the financial investment side as well as the personal activity side.”

http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-s...land-1.2109800

He's spent 100's of millions in the country in recent years and is planning to spend his retirement over there.

Nice if you can afford to be so self indulgent, but it does improve things for those who live over there.

BenMcr · 26-02-2016, 17:41

Liberty Global didn't buy Virgin Media Ireland. By the looks of it John Malone has always been part of cable in the Republic of Ireland - and Liberty Global bought ntl's assets in the ROI even before the ntl / Telewest merger.

Also the UPC brand pre-dates the Virgin Media brand.

The recent change is to bring the ROI business under Virgin Media in the wider group.

RichardCoulter · 26-02-2016, 17:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by BenMcr

Liberty Global didn't buy Virgin Media Ireland. They've always been part of cable in the Republic of Ireland - and bought ntl's assets in the ROI even before the ntl / Telewest merger.

The recent change is to bring the ROI business under the VM part of the wider LG group.

I've edited the post, as you're right, it did rather give the impression that he had bought the cable company very recently.

Pierre · 26-02-2016, 19:32

Struggling to see the point of this thread.

muppetman11 · 26-02-2016, 19:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pierre

Struggling to see the point of this thread.

RichardCoulter · 26-02-2016, 20:21

To inform people of the highly unusual approach to business by those in charge of their cable service, to enlighten those in Ireland of forthcoming changes and highlight the self indulgent personality of John Malone.

Top tip: If a thread topic doesn't appeal to you, don't enter it, let alone make comments that add nothing constructive to the discussion.

**Hugh** · 26-02-2016, 20:53

Top tip - you're not an Admin/Mod, so you don't get to tell people when or what to post...

Pierre · 26-02-2016, 21:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

To inform people of the highly unusual approach to business by those in charge of their cable service,

Malone bought NTL:lreland around 2004/5, since then and on the back of that and other acquisitions he has built the worlds largest cable company. What's unusual about that, unless you consider success unusual?

Quote:

to enlighten those in Ireland of forthcoming changes and highlight the self indulgent personality of John Malone.

what of his actions are self indulgent? Look like business decisions to me.

Quote:

Top tip: If a thread topic doesn't appeal to you, don't enter it, let alone make comments that add nothing constructive to the discussion.

Just questioning a thread that has no point to it.

RichardCoulter · 27-02-2016, 01:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pierre

Malone bought NTL:lreland around 2004/5, since then and on the back of that and other acquisitions he has built the worlds largest cable company. What's unusual about that, unless you consider success unusual?

what of his actions are self indulgent? Look like business decisions to me.

That's more like it

Well, it was in the Irish Times last year that he said that he didn't care about the fact that Ireland was a high risk venture.

“Personally, I really don’t care. It is a relatively small part of my assets and I am doing it because I love it, both the financial investment side as well as the personal activity side."

I'd say that buying something risky, simply because it provides you with personal pleasure, is very, very unusual in business- even by those who can afford to be so indulgent.

I also find the fact that he's building up his TV business in Southern Ireland, the place he intends to retire to, to be self indulgent in a 'feathering your own nest' kind of way. He's perfectly entitled to do this of course and this can only be good for Irish residents.

Stephen · 27-02-2016, 07:40

He bought it a long time ago and like all is other purchases has made changes to improve the service.

Thats all I can see he is doing. Nothing to do with self indulgence.

RichardCoulter · 27-02-2016, 08:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stephen

He bought it a long time ago and like all is other purchases has made changes to improve the service.

Thats all I can see he is doing. Nothing to do with self indulgence.

I think that there must be an element of this, as a media mogul he will want a decent set of channels to watch when he retires.

I can also imagine him wanting to 'pop in' to TV3, VM Ireland etc as he enjoys the business so much. I can't imagine that going down too well.

27-02-2016, 11:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

I think that there must be an element of this, as a media mogul he will want a decent set of channels to watch when he retires.

I can also imagine him wanting to 'pop in' to TV3, VM Ireland etc as he enjoys the business so much. I can't imagine that going down too well.

Why can't you imagine that going down too well? He generally doesn't get involved in the day to day running of any of his businesses. I don think he even went to the launch of VM in Ireland?

passingbat · 27-02-2016, 13:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pierre

Struggling to see the point of this thread.

Well, if the point of a thread is to create discussion, then this one seems to have achieved that and is therefore not pointless.

RichardCoulter · 27-02-2016, 14:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Banana

Why can't you imagine that going down too well? He generally doesn't get involved in the day to day running of any of his businesses. I don think he even went to the launch of VM in Ireland?

Nobody wants a retired boss hanging around the workplace giving their views, unwanted advice and generally interfering.

As he more or less says that he bought the Irish assets for his own personal enjoyment, I'd have thought that he'd do just that.

If you say he doesn't do this, fair enough. However, when he has lost his influence & power and suddenly has a lot of time on his hands, this may change.

Quote:

Originally Posted by passingbat

Well, if the point of a thread is to create discussion, then this one seems to have achieved that and is therefore not pointless.

Exactly, there are many, many threads on here that I have no interest in. I don't go into them to say pointless negative things that add nothing constructive to the discussion. I simply allow those who do find them enjoyable and interesting to get on with it.

Stephen · 28-02-2016, 10:49

I really don't think he bought it for his own fun and enjoyment.

Also if he rarely gets involved in daily business now but rather sits back and watches the money roll in. Why on earth would he start running about after he retires going to the office??

Doesn't make sense at all.

Personally I think he bought the business for the same reason he buys other businesses and that is to make a lot of money, so he has a nice nest egg for after he retires.