Liberty Global, Becoming a Big Fish, Risks Attracting the Eye of a Shark

With operations in more than a dozen countries and a market value topping $40 billion, Liberty Global, the international cable and wireless operator, is hardly a start-up. Assembled by the media mogul John Malone, its chairman, the company quietly exerts its influence across a vast portion of the European media business. But Michael Fries, the company’s chief executive, sees himself as an underdog taking on entrenched European telecommunications giants. “It’s the David-and-Goliath theme,” he said. “We are the small attacker at some level, coming in to stimulate competition and drive the incumbents to invest to catch us.” This strategy has been so successful that after several acquisitions, Liberty Global itself is reported to be a takeover target. Any such deal would cost tens of billions of dollars and would reshape the global telecommunications landscape. It also would require the blessing of Malone, who controls the voting shares.