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Liberty Global

#2817

Rank

$4.83B

Marketcap

GB United Kingdom

Country

Liberty Global
Leadership team

Mr. Michael Thomas Fries (Vice Chairman, Pres & CEO)

Mr. Charles H. R. Bracken (Exec. VP & CFO)

Mr. Enrique Rodriguez (Exec. VP & CTO)

Products/ Services
Internet, TV, Web Hosting
Number of Employees
1,000 - 20,000
Headquarters
London, England, United Kingdom
Established
2004
Company Registration
SEC CIK number: 0001570585
Net Income
1B - 20B
Revenue
Above - 1B
Traded as
LBTYB
Social Media
Overview
Location
Summary
Liberty Global plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides broadband internet, video, fixed-line telephony, and mobile communications services to residential and business customers. It offers value-added broadband services, such as intelligent WiFi features; security; smart home, online storage solutions, and Web spaces; Connect Box, a set-top or Horizon box that delivers in-home Wi-Fi service; community Wi-Fi via routers in home, which provides access to the internet; and public Wi-Fi access points in train stations, hotels, bars, restaurants, and other public places. The company also provides various tiers of digital video programming and audio services, as well as digital video recorders and multimedia home gateway systems; and channels, including general entertainment, sports, movies, series, documentaries, lifestyles, news, adult, children, and ethnic and foreign channels. In addition, it offers postpaid and prepaid mobile services; circuit-switched telephony services; and personal call manager, unified messaging, and a second or third phone line at an incremental cost. Further, the company offers business services comprising voice, advanced data, video, wireless, cloud-based services, and mobile and converged fixed-mobile services to small or home office, small business, and medium and large enterprises, as well as on a wholesale basis to other operators. It operates in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Switzerland, Ireland, Poland, Slovakia, and internationally. Liberty Global plc was founded in 2004 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.
History

Liberty Global Inc. was founded in 2005 when Liberty Media International, Inc. and UnitedGlobalCom, Inc. merged. LMI and UGC became subsidiaries of Liberty Global. UGC founder was Gene Schneider. UGC was also built on acquisitions. United International Holding, later called UGC, acquired in 1995 50% of UPC from Dutch electronic concern Philips and 100% 1997.

The new entity had operations in 18 countries and networks over approximately 23 million homes, making it one of the largest broadband services companies in the world.Liberty acquired German company Unitymedia in November 2009 for $5.2 billion. In 2010, Liberty sold its stake in Jupiter Telecommunications, a Japanese telecommunications-services provider.In January 2013, Liberty Global raised its stake in Belgium-based Telenet from 50.2% to 58%. In June 2013, Liberty Global acquired British cable group Virgin Media for $24 billion in cash and stock. The acquisition was noted by The New York Times as one of the 10 largest cable deals of all time. It was reported that this acquisition would make Liberty Global the largest broadband company in the world. Liberty agreed in October 2013 to sell Chellomedia for $1.035 billion except for its Benelux unit to AMC Networks.Liberty Global announced it would be acquiring Dutch cable company Ziggo for €10 billion in January 2014. The acquisition was completed in November 2014, when the services of UPC Nederland began to be merged into the new business. Liberty Global and Discovery Communications became joint owners of All3Media in May 2014 in a £500 million joint deal. In July 2014, Liberty Global acquired a 6.4% stake in ITV plc, valued at £481 million. Liberty's stake in the company increased to 9.9% in July 2015.

In November 2015, Liberty Global announced its acquisition of Cable & Wireless Communications. The $5.3 billion deal expanded Liberty Global's presence into the Caribbean & greater Latin America. The acquisition was completed in May 2016. In 2015, Liberty established the stock Liberty Latin American & Caribbean focusing on Panama and the Caribbean with assets in Chile and Puerto Rico. The company also owned a 49% stake in majority state-owned Trinidadian telco, TSTT, which it was eventually obliged to dispose of as the company itself competes with Liberty's wholly owned Trinidadian subsidiary, FLOW Trinidad. Liberty Global and Discovery Communications paid approximately $195 million for a 3.4% stake in Lions Gate Entertainment Group in November 2015. Liberty CEO Mike Fries joined the Lion's Gate board of directors as part of the acquisition.Liberty invested £7.5 million in global broadband cable network Technetix in July 2016. In November 2016, Liberty Global's Virgin Media subsidiary released its Netflix and other app-enabled set-top V6 box. Liberty Global was also ranked 88th on the Forbes "World's Most Innovative Companies" list in 2016.At the end of 2017, Liberty Global announced the decision to sell its operations in Austria, UPC Austria – the country's largest cable operator, to T-Mobile Austria for €1.9 billion, which was then rebranded Magenta Telekom.In January 2018, Liberty Latin America spun off from Liberty Global. The new publicly traded company, Liberty Latin America Ltd., operates independently throughout parts of the Caribbean and South America.In May 2018, Liberty Global announced the sale of its operations in Germany, Hungary, Romania and the Czech Republic to Vodafone for €19 billion . The sale closed for $21.3 billion in July 2019. All of these operations, formerly named UPC , were since rebranded to Vodafone. In December 2018, Liberty Global announced the sale of its DTH satellite TV operations in Hungary , Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania to M7 Group. Under M7 Group, Czech and Slovak operations were integrated with Skylink, Hungarian operations adopted Direct One name and logo, while Romanian operations retained its name, only changing its logo to match with its new parent.

In 2019, Liberty Global announced an initiative to offer broadband with speeds of 1 Gbps across several European cities through the company's GigaCities program.In August 2020, Liberty Global announced that it would be buying Sunrise Communications AG for $7.4 billion.

The company attempted to acquire Sunrise Communications multiple times; according to Mike Fries, the chief executive officer of Liberty Global, "It wasn't a question of 'is this a good deal?' only a matter of how it would get done".

On the 11th November Sunrise became a subsidiary of Liberty Global.

In September 2021, Liberty Global announce the sale of its Polish operations to Iliad Group's subsidiary Play for $1.8bn. The transaction was closed on 1 April 2022.

Merger with Vodafone in the Netherlands

In June 2015, Vodafone confirmed talks with Liberty Global focused on potential partnerships, but denied that a full merger was in the works. Liberty Global invested in Guavus, a data analytics company, in September 2015. In February 2016, it was announced that Vodafone and Liberty Global would merge Dutch operations. Liberty's Dutch subsidiary, Ziggo, would work with Vodafone's mobile network. Vodafone paid Liberty €1 billion as part of the joint venture valued at €3.5 billion. The deal was approved by the European Commission in August 2016. On December 31, 2016, the proposed merger of Liberty Global's and Vodafone Group's Dutch operations was completed, resulting in a joint venture called VodafoneZiggo Group Holding B.V.

Innovations and investments

In 2013–2016, Liberty Global invested EUR 14.5 billion in infrastructure, including investments to bring high-speed internet to four million more European households through new build and upgrades.In October 2017, Liberty Global opened the Telenet Innovation Center in Brussels, its second innovation hub alongside the Tech Campus near Amsterdam. The Innovation Center is focused on testing Internet of Things solutions and mobile technologies, including the introduction and preparation of 5G networks.

Video properties

Liberty Global offers Netflix in 30 countries in Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean and other video-on-demand platforms as MaxDome in Germany, Play and Play More in Belgium, and MyPrime in Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ireland, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

In 2017, Liberty Global partnered with affiliate Lionsgate and subsidiary premium channel Starz on a television series, The Rook. The show, which premiered in summer 2019, is adapted by Stephenie Meyer from the novel of the same name written by Daniel O'Malley.In February 2018, Liberty Global announced a partnership with Amazon Prime Video on the television series called The Feed, premiering in 2019. The show was co-produced in partnership with the Amazon Studios division and launched as an on-demand programme in Europe, Latin and North America.

Mission
Liberty Global is committed to continuous innovation in technology to deliver new products and services that are “simply for everyone”. We are internationally focused and positioned to capitalize on the growing demand for digital television, internet and telephone services. Our business strategy emphasizes superior organic growth, opportunistic M&A activity, and a commitment to equity returns through appropriate leverage and share buy-backs.
Vision
Our vision is to be the leading integrated international telecommunications and entertainment provider, providing our customers with choice, value and quality service.
Key Team

Mr. Bryan H. Hall (Exec. VP, Gen. Counsel & Sec.)

Mr. Andrea Salvato (Sr. VP & Chief Devel. Officer)

Mr. Jason R. Waldron (Sr. VP & Chief Accounting Officer)

Ms. Amy M. Blair (Sr. VP & Chief People Officer)

Mr. Veenod Kurup (Chief Information Officer & MD)

Mr. Eric Lennon (Managing Director of Technology Integration)

Mr. Frederick G. Westerman III (Sr. VP of Investor Relations & Corp. Responsibility)

Recognition and Awards
Throughout its history, Liberty Global has been recognized with numerous accolades and awards, including the 2020 FierceWireless Digital Transformation Award, Red Herring’s 2018 Top 100 Technology Companies, the 2018 Global Telecoms Award for Primary Connectivity Provider of the Year, and the 2018 Stevie International Business Award for Innovative Employer of the Year.
References
Liberty Global
Leadership team

Mr. Michael Thomas Fries (Vice Chairman, Pres & CEO)

Mr. Charles H. R. Bracken (Exec. VP & CFO)

Mr. Enrique Rodriguez (Exec. VP & CTO)

Products/ Services
Internet, TV, Web Hosting
Number of Employees
1,000 - 20,000
Headquarters
London, England, United Kingdom
Established
2004
Company Registration
SEC CIK number: 0001570585
Net Income
1B - 20B
Revenue
Above - 1B
Traded as
LBTYB
Social Media