Mike Fries

Liberty Global positioning itself for fixed-mobile future, says Fries

Liberty Global’s sale of its German and central European assets and planned sale of its Swiss unit “all make sense” in a market that is moving towards fixed-mobile convergence, but the company nevertheless sees “a lot of runway” to build value from its remaining assets, according to CEO Mike Fries. Speaking at Goldman Sachs Communacopia […]

Fries: Liberty Global ‘never so well positioned’ to create value

Liberty Global has never been “so well positioned to create value for shareholders” despite the challenges it faces, according to CEO Mike Fries. Speaking after the company released modest Q1 results, Fries said that the cable giant was “on the verge of completing a series of transactions that will leave us with a more concentrated […]

Liberty Global sees drop in video customers

Liberty Global’s announcement of the sale of its operation in Switzerland (see separate story) came as the company posted mixed Q4 and full-year results, with an acceleration in video losses in the three months to December. Liberty Global lost 32,500 revenue-generating units in Q4, meaning its gain for the year overall was 30,000. The company […]

Liberty Global’s Fries: 5G could be ‘bad dream’ for operators

Bearing the cost of investing in 5G could turn out to be a ‘bad dream’ for operators, with the business case still uncertain, according to Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries. “For many operators, 5G could be a bad dream,” said Fries, speaking at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, with the incredible cost of building […]

Liberty Global commercial chief departs in major reorganisation

Liberty Global is to decentralise its organisation in a series of steps that will reflect its reduced scale post the sale of assets to Vodafone, the first of which sees the departure of Diederik Karsten, the company’s chief commercial officer. Liberty Global said that the departure of Karsten, who has served with the company since […]

Fries: Liberty’s sale of assets is ‘important inflection point for cable’

Liberty Global’s sale of assets marks “a pretty important inflection point for European cable” following a period of organic and acquisition growth for the company, according to CEO Mike Fries, speaking at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference yesterday. He said that cable in Europe now faces telecom competitors that are “pretty darn good […]

Fries: German Cartel Office move is ‘no surprise’

German competition watchdog the Bundeskartellamt’s move to have the EC refer Vodafone’s planned acquisition of Unitymedia to was “totally expected and not a surprise at all” for Unitymedia parent Liberty Global and the company remains confident that the deal will be approved, according to president and CEO Mike Fries. Speaking to analysts after Liberty posted […]

Liberty Global’s Fries mulls Swiss consolidation and a Dutch buyout

Liberty Global is mulling potential consolidation in the Swiss market and a longer-term decision about whether to buy out Vodafone in its Dutch JV, according to president and CEO Mike Fries. Fries, speaking at the Goldman Sachs’ Communacopia Conference in the US, said that Switzerland remains a “challenging” market and that Liberty was looking at […]

Liberty Global will ‘lean’ towards shareholders with US$12bn Vodafone cash proceeds

Liberty Global will have US$12 billion (€10 billion) in cash to potentially spend on M&A or share buybacks as well as paying off debt following its sale of assets to Vodafone, but with no obvious transaction on the horizon is likely to look to return a substantial portion to shareholders, according to president and CEO […]

Liberty Global has ‘strong turnaround plan’ for UPC Switzerland

Liberty Global’s struggling Swiss business remains “highly cash-generative” with attractive cash-flow, giving the company “strategic options” as the Swiss market “looks to consolidate and rationalise”, according to CEO Mike Fries. Speaking to analysts as the company posted its Q2 results, Fries said that Liberty had “a pretty strong turnaround plan for Switzerland” but that this […]

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