Malone Fined $1.4 Million Over Discovery Share Buys

Liberty Media chairman John Malone agreed to pay $1.4 million as part of a settlement with the U.S. Dept. of Justice on Tuesday, stemming from the media mogul's accumulation of voting shares in Discovery Holding Co. The DOJ's Antitrust Division, at the request of the Federal Trade Commission, filed a civil antitrust suit today in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. against Malone for violating the notification requirements of the Hart-Scott Rodino Act of 1976. At the same time, DOJ filed a proposed settlement that if approved by the court, will settle the charges. Malone has already agreed to the settlement. According to the complaint, Malone failed to comply with the antitrust premerger notification requirements of the HSR Act before acquiring voting securities of Discovery in August 2005, and continued to acquire Discovery voting securities through April 2008.