We Study Billionaires - The Investors Podcast

Kyle Grieve discusses the life and career of legendary capital allocator John Malone and details the at times complex strategies that helped him compound capital over decades. IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:03:55 - How Malone uncovered fraud and took over Jerrold 00:06:20 - Why risk assessment shaped his “what if not” framework 00:09:21 - How he chose TCI over higher-paying offers 00:11:29 - Creative leverage strategies to survive heavy debt 00:13:23 - Why EBITDA helped reframe TCI’s cash economics 00:55:17 - How clustering acquisitions built regional cable dominance 00:18:51 - The Liberty Media spinoff and tax-efficient structuring 00:44:06 - Asymmetric bets that created massive upside for shareholders 00:34:34 - Lessons from disruption and Netflix’s streaming threat 00:48:54 - Malone’s thoughts on leadership, decentralization, and long-term capital allocation Disclaimer: Slight discrepancies in the timestamps may occur due to podcast platform differences. BOOKS AND RES