Liberty Global can see more expansion coming in Europe, but the company won’t pursue growth for growth’s sake, says chief Mike Fries.
“We’re not motivated by building empires,” Fries told the Financial Times. “We’re motivated by creating value.”
While John Malone (who holds 24% of voting rights in Liberty Global) is known for big dealings, Fries says he leaves the company to pursue its course: “I’ve been chief executive for 10 years and everything we’ve done has been self-created. We have the benefit of [Malone’s] strategic insight and guidance but he is not a puppeteer.”
Liberty Global is currently on a buying spree, with the acquisition of Caribbean cable operator Cable & Wireless Communications in a cash and stock deal valued at $5.3 billion as the most recent investment. Earlier this year, the company closed the acquitsion of cable operator Ziggo in the Netherlands, merging it with its own UPC Nederland, reaching over half of all Dutch homes.
The company is acquiring mobile operator Base in Belgium, which is still under scrutiny by the European Commission.
Content-wise, Liberty Global recently acquiring more shares in ITV, in ireland’s TV3 as well as in US studio Lionsgate.
For the past years, talks about a tie-up with Vidafone were going on, but have now come to an end. However, “We never say never,” according to Fries, “but there is nothing happening at the moment.”
