What do you think?
Rate this book
Cable Cowboy : John Malone and the rise of the modern cable-TV business
Cable Cowboy, first published in 2002, tells the story of John Malone’s early and unpredictable rise to become the leader of the cable-TV industry. Born in a small town in Connecticut, he climbed his way through Yale, the legendary Bell Labs and McKinsey & Co., then befriended a deep-in-debt cowboy who would become his best friend and business partner. Told in a lively style with exclusive details, the story shows how an unassuming strand of copper coaxial cable wire started as a backwoods antenna service and became the digital nervous system of the U.S., an evolution that gave U.S. consumers television, telephone and the fastest route to the Internet.
394 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 30, 2002
348 people are currently reading
3070 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 128 reviews
July 18, 2020
If you don’t have any interest in balance sheets, income statements, hostile takeovers, stock swaps, share buybacks, or tax strategies, then you probably won’t like this book.
But if somewhere along the way you lost yourself down the rabbit hole of corporate finance, then you will L-O-V-E love this book.
The story centers on John Malone, widely regarded as one of the sharpest business minds in modern history. His pace of M&A—averaging one deal every two weeks for over 15 years—is stunning. I mean, these guys were slinging billion dollar deals like bowls of breakfast cereal (and his company's share price increased 55,000% during that period by the way).
But to me, what truly makes this book great is the robust profile of Malone that Robichaux gives us. It’s not just a fawning glow piece. Malone is cast as a monster as much as a maven, mortal as much as invincible, an insecure sociopath as much as a loving family man.
But if somewhere along the way you lost yourself down the rabbit hole of corporate finance, then you will L-O-V-E love this book.
The story centers on John Malone, widely regarded as one of the sharpest business minds in modern history. His pace of M&A—averaging one deal every two weeks for over 15 years—is stunning. I mean, these guys were slinging billion dollar deals like bowls of breakfast cereal (and his company's share price increased 55,000% during that period by the way).
But to me, what truly makes this book great is the robust profile of Malone that Robichaux gives us. It’s not just a fawning glow piece. Malone is cast as a monster as much as a maven, mortal as much as invincible, an insecure sociopath as much as a loving family man.
July 23, 2021
This is one of the best business books I've ever read. I learned an unbelievable amount about the history of cable and Internet from this book, and it has given me a much greater appreciation of why technology, media, and telecom are often grouped together. This book is as much about the history of the cable industry as it is about the life of John Malone, its central figure. From the early days of pulling local broadcast signals out of the sky to the dotcom bubble, the author does an exhaustive job chronicling all of the significant developments in the industry along the way. You see the club of cable cowboys, their successors, and how all their paths intertwined. Such figures included Ted Turner, Chuck Dolan, Barry Diller, Sumner Redstone, Rupert Murdoch, Brian Roberts, Charlie Ergen, and Bill Gates. But all of these people seem to be side characters to the protagonist John Malone. Malone comes across as a financial genius in the book, having become CEO of TCI in his early 30s. A few themes that came up over and over in Malone's life were:
1. Try to collaborate - perhaps as a result of the fact that cable evolved as a series of local monopolies, the industry was very collaborative, which suited Malone's temperament. He always believed that everyone could get rich, and partnerships could be mutually beneficial
2. Focus on cash flows - the book credits Malone with popularizing the concept of EBITDA and its usage in valuation. Not sure how true that really is, but it was certainly a key insight that allowed Malone to make the maximum usage of debt to invest as much as possible and minimize payment of taxes, which leads to
3. Minimize taxes in transactions - Malone often did stock swaps and other structures which were tax-free. The way he saw it, that was shareholders' money, and if he could legally avoid paying to the government, he would
4. Invest in content, and use the platform to leverage upside - Starting with BET, Malone realized early on that content would be hugely important. So he made investments in channels, and when he put channels on TCI, immediately gave them an audience, which in turn increased the value of his investments. As he aggregated subscribers, he could also use scale economies to negotiate for better terms from content providers. Companies like Amazon (making equity investments in companies that rely on its logistics and fulfillment network), Netflix (using its huge subscriber base to leverage costs on content and use content in turn to acquire more subscribers) and Tencent (making equity investments in companies like Pinduoduo that built their businesses on top of WeChat) are making usage of this insight today
5. Reward loyalty, punish betrayals - Malone generously rewarded those who worked for him both at TCI and on his cattle ranch. He never forgave Al Gore for using him as political fodder despite Gore reaching out years later to apologize
At times, the book seems to go into details that are not quite a deep dive but not quite a quick summary. But given the complexity of many of these transactions and the number of parties involved, personally I found it helpful. I wish I had read this book many years earlier because it gave me a much greater understanding of the history of cable and the internet, and how to think about internet businesses today.
1. Try to collaborate - perhaps as a result of the fact that cable evolved as a series of local monopolies, the industry was very collaborative, which suited Malone's temperament. He always believed that everyone could get rich, and partnerships could be mutually beneficial
2. Focus on cash flows - the book credits Malone with popularizing the concept of EBITDA and its usage in valuation. Not sure how true that really is, but it was certainly a key insight that allowed Malone to make the maximum usage of debt to invest as much as possible and minimize payment of taxes, which leads to
3. Minimize taxes in transactions - Malone often did stock swaps and other structures which were tax-free. The way he saw it, that was shareholders' money, and if he could legally avoid paying to the government, he would
4. Invest in content, and use the platform to leverage upside - Starting with BET, Malone realized early on that content would be hugely important. So he made investments in channels, and when he put channels on TCI, immediately gave them an audience, which in turn increased the value of his investments. As he aggregated subscribers, he could also use scale economies to negotiate for better terms from content providers. Companies like Amazon (making equity investments in companies that rely on its logistics and fulfillment network), Netflix (using its huge subscriber base to leverage costs on content and use content in turn to acquire more subscribers) and Tencent (making equity investments in companies like Pinduoduo that built their businesses on top of WeChat) are making usage of this insight today
5. Reward loyalty, punish betrayals - Malone generously rewarded those who worked for him both at TCI and on his cattle ranch. He never forgave Al Gore for using him as political fodder despite Gore reaching out years later to apologize
At times, the book seems to go into details that are not quite a deep dive but not quite a quick summary. But given the complexity of many of these transactions and the number of parties involved, personally I found it helpful. I wish I had read this book many years earlier because it gave me a much greater understanding of the history of cable and the internet, and how to think about internet businesses today.
November 1, 2018
Surprisingly interesting book. I didn’t have a strong grasp on the history of the big cable companies. They always just kind of seemed to be these huge entities with awful customer service. Turns out, there’s a long backstory there. And it’s interesting. Cable Cowboys does a good job explaining it all as it follows John Malone and his team at Telecommunications Inc (TCI).
My big takeaways:
- John Malone is the real deal as an executive. His ability to craft win-win deals (with the biggest win for himself) and avoid taxes was really impressive.
- Fascinating to learn how cable started as this small-time way to rebroadcast the signals of major TV broadcasters (CBS, ABC, NBC) and grew to be the absolute behemoth it is today.
I generally feel like executives in major corporations are mostly competent, but hardly exceptional when you consider that most of them have been working full-time in their fields for multiple decades. When accounting for all that time, they mostly seem pretty normal, nothing surprising in terms of ability. But John Malone seems to be an exception. He is an executive where you look at the amount of time he put in and he still comes out looking impressive. He seems to be genuinely much better than average at seeing how to make deals with upside for both parties. Combine that vision with an exceptional ability to execute and convince potential competitors to partner with him, and it’s pretty clear the man is the real deal.
It was also really interesting to learn about the cable industry as a whole. It began as a means to give rural towns access to the shows from major broadcasters. Early cable companies would put a big receiving dish on top of the nearest big hill, then run a wire (the “cable”) back into the rural town and hook up people’s TV sets. The economics of it are particularly interesting. The major broadcasters made money on advertising, and didn’t charge customers to receive the signal. But cable companies didn’t have access to the ad revenue, so they charged customers a monthly fee to access the signal of the major broadcasters. This paid for the maintenance costs of fixing the wire, and allowed for a small profit. Some visionary cable pioneers (the “cable cowboys” in the book) realized that it was in their interest to try and get as big as possible, and wire as many homes as they could. So they set off reinvesting every dime they had in the business and begging banks to let them borrow as much money as possible. Banks were reticent to do this because the cable companies never really had cash flow, only revenue growth, and banks thought this was risky (times are different now, see Amazon). So the cable companies (at least TCI, the focus of this book) were in a constant battle with banks to get the capital they needed to finance their growth and pay off their bills. This whole system mostly worked, as long as the bankers went along, which they tried their hardest not to. But Malone and Magness and the other cable cowboys eventually prevailed in every battle. But even as they continued to expand, cable companies were pretty much beholden to the major broadcasters, who were the source of all the content on the cable networks. So in that era, the upside from cable companies always seemed a bit capped. When broadcasters controlled the signal, you had to figure cable companies had a ceiling on their financial upside. In short, the cable companies had a distribution problem. This changes in the 70’s, when HBO becomes the first major cable channel to be transmitted via satellite. The breakthrough moment is when HBO broadcasts the Thrilla in Manila live, while the other major broadcast networks have to air the fight on tape delay. HBO demonstrated that satellites could be used to circumvent the distribution channel established by the major broadcasters. At that point, cable began to really take off, and many, many new channels sprang up to take advantage of this new way of reaching viewers. And Malone was really smart to realize that he wanted to partner with as many new cable channels as possible, so that TCI would have upside in case the competitive landscape of cable ever tilted in favor of the channels over the cable companies. Malone was a master dealmaker throughout the entire story. In any case, cable was really doing well, and it entered an era known as the “franchise battles”. In this era, well-financed companies would come in to bid for cable licenses in various municipalities, because these licenses were basically a regulated monopoly. Unfortunately, the companies overbid on the licenses, overspent on installing state of the art systems, and overpromised their shareholders about revenue projections from cable. Lots of people lost money. But, when those companies were ready to bail out of cable, Malone and TCI were ready to scoop up their leftovers for cheap and run the wires profitably. Worked out great for Malone. At this point, there is a lot of consolidation going on in the cable industry, and TCI is becoming pretty huge. With this consolidation come really large price increases and really awful customer service. This pisses off pretty much everyone, so the government comes in. In the mid-80’s the federal government takes over regulating cable companies, so municipalities don’t have to worry about that anymore. The gov’t imposes pretty austere rate reductions, and the cable companies start hurting. It’s particularly rough because the cable companies are still usually running with pretty heavy debt loads. But, you don’t feel too bad for ‘em because they were pretty huge assholes (and largely continue to be). And it’s not like these guys didn’t make plenty of money. Anyways, this continues for a bit, until the early/mid-90’s when the federal government decides to deregulate the telecom industry to increase competition. Well, this sets off another consolidation bonanza, and this time, Malone is ready to get out of cable altogether. He organizes a pretty sweet deal to have AT&T buy up TCI, and, with a few bumps after the deal closes, rides off into the sunset. The cable companies then go on to start delivering internet/phone service, and now, here we are. Overall, it’s really interesting to see these huge names in cable (AT&T, Cox, Comcast, etc) and learn about their origin story. If only it could end up with those companies providing better customer service, but then again, that’s a lot to expect from a monopoly (even a regulated one).
My big takeaways:
- John Malone is the real deal as an executive. His ability to craft win-win deals (with the biggest win for himself) and avoid taxes was really impressive.
- Fascinating to learn how cable started as this small-time way to rebroadcast the signals of major TV broadcasters (CBS, ABC, NBC) and grew to be the absolute behemoth it is today.
I generally feel like executives in major corporations are mostly competent, but hardly exceptional when you consider that most of them have been working full-time in their fields for multiple decades. When accounting for all that time, they mostly seem pretty normal, nothing surprising in terms of ability. But John Malone seems to be an exception. He is an executive where you look at the amount of time he put in and he still comes out looking impressive. He seems to be genuinely much better than average at seeing how to make deals with upside for both parties. Combine that vision with an exceptional ability to execute and convince potential competitors to partner with him, and it’s pretty clear the man is the real deal.
It was also really interesting to learn about the cable industry as a whole. It began as a means to give rural towns access to the shows from major broadcasters. Early cable companies would put a big receiving dish on top of the nearest big hill, then run a wire (the “cable”) back into the rural town and hook up people’s TV sets. The economics of it are particularly interesting. The major broadcasters made money on advertising, and didn’t charge customers to receive the signal. But cable companies didn’t have access to the ad revenue, so they charged customers a monthly fee to access the signal of the major broadcasters. This paid for the maintenance costs of fixing the wire, and allowed for a small profit. Some visionary cable pioneers (the “cable cowboys” in the book) realized that it was in their interest to try and get as big as possible, and wire as many homes as they could. So they set off reinvesting every dime they had in the business and begging banks to let them borrow as much money as possible. Banks were reticent to do this because the cable companies never really had cash flow, only revenue growth, and banks thought this was risky (times are different now, see Amazon). So the cable companies (at least TCI, the focus of this book) were in a constant battle with banks to get the capital they needed to finance their growth and pay off their bills. This whole system mostly worked, as long as the bankers went along, which they tried their hardest not to. But Malone and Magness and the other cable cowboys eventually prevailed in every battle. But even as they continued to expand, cable companies were pretty much beholden to the major broadcasters, who were the source of all the content on the cable networks. So in that era, the upside from cable companies always seemed a bit capped. When broadcasters controlled the signal, you had to figure cable companies had a ceiling on their financial upside. In short, the cable companies had a distribution problem. This changes in the 70’s, when HBO becomes the first major cable channel to be transmitted via satellite. The breakthrough moment is when HBO broadcasts the Thrilla in Manila live, while the other major broadcast networks have to air the fight on tape delay. HBO demonstrated that satellites could be used to circumvent the distribution channel established by the major broadcasters. At that point, cable began to really take off, and many, many new channels sprang up to take advantage of this new way of reaching viewers. And Malone was really smart to realize that he wanted to partner with as many new cable channels as possible, so that TCI would have upside in case the competitive landscape of cable ever tilted in favor of the channels over the cable companies. Malone was a master dealmaker throughout the entire story. In any case, cable was really doing well, and it entered an era known as the “franchise battles”. In this era, well-financed companies would come in to bid for cable licenses in various municipalities, because these licenses were basically a regulated monopoly. Unfortunately, the companies overbid on the licenses, overspent on installing state of the art systems, and overpromised their shareholders about revenue projections from cable. Lots of people lost money. But, when those companies were ready to bail out of cable, Malone and TCI were ready to scoop up their leftovers for cheap and run the wires profitably. Worked out great for Malone. At this point, there is a lot of consolidation going on in the cable industry, and TCI is becoming pretty huge. With this consolidation come really large price increases and really awful customer service. This pisses off pretty much everyone, so the government comes in. In the mid-80’s the federal government takes over regulating cable companies, so municipalities don’t have to worry about that anymore. The gov’t imposes pretty austere rate reductions, and the cable companies start hurting. It’s particularly rough because the cable companies are still usually running with pretty heavy debt loads. But, you don’t feel too bad for ‘em because they were pretty huge assholes (and largely continue to be). And it’s not like these guys didn’t make plenty of money. Anyways, this continues for a bit, until the early/mid-90’s when the federal government decides to deregulate the telecom industry to increase competition. Well, this sets off another consolidation bonanza, and this time, Malone is ready to get out of cable altogether. He organizes a pretty sweet deal to have AT&T buy up TCI, and, with a few bumps after the deal closes, rides off into the sunset. The cable companies then go on to start delivering internet/phone service, and now, here we are. Overall, it’s really interesting to see these huge names in cable (AT&T, Cox, Comcast, etc) and learn about their origin story. If only it could end up with those companies providing better customer service, but then again, that’s a lot to expect from a monopoly (even a regulated one).
February 25, 2015
My main complaint about the popular finance book "The Outsiders: Eight unconventional CEOs" by Thorndike was that there wasn't enough detail about each individual person ... Well this book certainly checks the John Malone box! Cable Cowboy was a comprehensive and thorough review of his amazing career at TCI. Financially gifted, Malone was also a ruthless deal-maker and operator that managed to become the preeminent cable and media industry tycoon.
Pretty much a must read for anyone that has an interest in business I'd say.
(Also on a personal note, he instantly became my hero once I learned that his nickname is "Darth Vader", given to him for being such a tough and bad-ass negotiator and business man.)
Pretty much a must read for anyone that has an interest in business I'd say.
(Also on a personal note, he instantly became my hero once I learned that his nickname is "Darth Vader", given to him for being such a tough and bad-ass negotiator and business man.)
May 17, 2022
Although short this was a pretty dense read, over viewing most of the formative acquisitions/corp action Malone drove throughout his time in the cable industry (both TCI and Liberty). It’s really interesting to read about the cable business in its earlier aughts and compare it to the highly competitive and acquisitive space many of these companies again find themselves in the streaming world. Always interesting to read about someone who was at the forefront of an industry such as this and glad I decided to finally read (had been recommended by a colleague months ago).
March 21, 2023
Engaging and informative
Cable cowboy is a biography of John Malone, a cable tycoon who changed the media industry with his vision and business acumen. The author, Mark Robichaux, covers Malone's career from his humble beginnings to his legendary deals and battles. The book shows Malone's strengths and weaknesses as a leader, negotiator, and innovator. It also traces the history and development of the cable industry and its impact on the internet, markets, and society. Cable cowboy is an engaging and informative read for anyone interested in cable, television, media, and business in general. After 20 years, this is my second time reading the book and the writing of this particular version, this anniversary edition, is timeless and still reads like a business page-turning thriller.
Cable cowboy is a biography of John Malone, a cable tycoon who changed the media industry with his vision and business acumen. The author, Mark Robichaux, covers Malone's career from his humble beginnings to his legendary deals and battles. The book shows Malone's strengths and weaknesses as a leader, negotiator, and innovator. It also traces the history and development of the cable industry and its impact on the internet, markets, and society. Cable cowboy is an engaging and informative read for anyone interested in cable, television, media, and business in general. After 20 years, this is my second time reading the book and the writing of this particular version, this anniversary edition, is timeless and still reads like a business page-turning thriller.
October 21, 2023
Great business biography and background of the cable industry.
It would be nice to read an accompanying book that’s a bit more technical—I’d like to better understand how Malone made his decisions, thought about deals, etc.
It would be nice to read an accompanying book that’s a bit more technical—I’d like to better understand how Malone made his decisions, thought about deals, etc.
February 17, 2021
A tale of how a finance guy helped a struggling cable network grow into a giant firm, with deal-making, moxie, and financial wizardry
I tend to believe that operators need to understand the nuts and bolts of their core business exceptionally to be effective. This was a great realisation that they don’t.
Malone’s playbook (which he had initially conceptualized in his twenties when at Bell Labs - it was called “Resource Allocation and the Regulated Firm”) was that:
1. You can get a lot of benefit from scale. And horizontal acquisitions are a great way to get more benefit from your fixed costs AND to expand in new markets
2. When a new opportunity opens up, start off by aggregating and going after rural and suburban areas, instead of bit urban centres. You can beat the competition easily in these areas, and get a lot of operational learnings. Then, you can go to the cities with these learnings later. By the time you do, there is a chance that people who have rushed into big cities are looking to get out – and you can acquire assets for really cheap
3. Get the strategic high ground, so you can use your scale (in point 1) to negotiate with other people in the supply chain. This can either be done through investments in vertical opportunities, or (more rarely in Malone’s case) through vertical acquisitions
4. Creating tracking-stocks and spin-offs
A tracking stock tracks the performance of specific assets within a corporate entity, even though the assets being tracked, share the same balance sheet. It allows investors to measure and analyse each tracking stock by its own underlying operating characteristics while enjoying the benefits of a combined balance sheet. Often, the creation of a tracking stock was the prelude of a spin-off. A spin-off allows a company to distribute shares of the spun-off entity to its shareholders in a tax-exempt manner
5. Creating tax efficiency by depreciating your capex faster, so that you have more cashflow to plough back into the business in the early stages — when it is most needed
Malone’s fundamental insight of focusing on cashflow instead of operating profit was phenomenal – and was something that others (like Jeff Bezos) adopted later on
Malone ability to make capital allocation decisions with a really long (10-20 years!) time horizon, and understanding of competitive behaviour was phenomenal.
I tend to believe that operators need to understand the nuts and bolts of their core business exceptionally to be effective. This was a great realisation that they don’t.
Malone’s playbook (which he had initially conceptualized in his twenties when at Bell Labs - it was called “Resource Allocation and the Regulated Firm”) was that:
1. You can get a lot of benefit from scale. And horizontal acquisitions are a great way to get more benefit from your fixed costs AND to expand in new markets
2. When a new opportunity opens up, start off by aggregating and going after rural and suburban areas, instead of bit urban centres. You can beat the competition easily in these areas, and get a lot of operational learnings. Then, you can go to the cities with these learnings later. By the time you do, there is a chance that people who have rushed into big cities are looking to get out – and you can acquire assets for really cheap
3. Get the strategic high ground, so you can use your scale (in point 1) to negotiate with other people in the supply chain. This can either be done through investments in vertical opportunities, or (more rarely in Malone’s case) through vertical acquisitions
4. Creating tracking-stocks and spin-offs
A tracking stock tracks the performance of specific assets within a corporate entity, even though the assets being tracked, share the same balance sheet. It allows investors to measure and analyse each tracking stock by its own underlying operating characteristics while enjoying the benefits of a combined balance sheet. Often, the creation of a tracking stock was the prelude of a spin-off. A spin-off allows a company to distribute shares of the spun-off entity to its shareholders in a tax-exempt manner
5. Creating tax efficiency by depreciating your capex faster, so that you have more cashflow to plough back into the business in the early stages — when it is most needed
Malone’s fundamental insight of focusing on cashflow instead of operating profit was phenomenal – and was something that others (like Jeff Bezos) adopted later on
Malone ability to make capital allocation decisions with a really long (10-20 years!) time horizon, and understanding of competitive behaviour was phenomenal.
November 23, 2023
Okay book if you have a real interest in the cable industry and one of its most aggressive executives. Should have removed it from my to-read shelf once I stopped being a Media analyst. Sure, Malone worked hard, sacrificed much, and achieved a great deal, but so have countless other men and women who have made business their supreme, defining pursuit in life. Robichaux is near breathless talking of Malone’s accumulated wealth and land (he is the first or second largest private landowner in the US), but what’s the greater inspiration? I find little to relate to or learn from in this story of near-clinical capitalism, like a game of poker played out on the stage of copper wires and content agreements. I like my capitalism poetic; this ain’t it.
---
(As consultant) “Over time Malone found that if he interviewed thirty people or so and listened intently, themes would emerge. The best ideas were sometimes hidden or they were lost on senior executives… You simply take the best ideas from anyone who has them, polish them, and serve them up to the chairperson.”
“(Cable had to offer something more to) overcome the hooker’s lament of American TV watchers, that people were reluctant to pay for television because they could get it free from the ABC, NBC, and CBS broadcast networks.”
“He hadn’t mustered some of the most impressive profit margins in the business by coddling the subscriber base. Rude installers, no-show repairmen, and busy signals were the norm for many cable companies, TCI included. It was like getting the Hell’s Angels sent to your home.”
“You can’t win a pissing contest with a skunk.”
“Too many corporate chiefs and not enough Indians.”
“You don’t walk into a guy’s office and piss on his desk and expect him to sign a contract.”
“When more than 25% of the value of your stock is something that you haven’t done yet, get real nervous, real fast.”
---
(As consultant) “Over time Malone found that if he interviewed thirty people or so and listened intently, themes would emerge. The best ideas were sometimes hidden or they were lost on senior executives… You simply take the best ideas from anyone who has them, polish them, and serve them up to the chairperson.”
“(Cable had to offer something more to) overcome the hooker’s lament of American TV watchers, that people were reluctant to pay for television because they could get it free from the ABC, NBC, and CBS broadcast networks.”
“He hadn’t mustered some of the most impressive profit margins in the business by coddling the subscriber base. Rude installers, no-show repairmen, and busy signals were the norm for many cable companies, TCI included. It was like getting the Hell’s Angels sent to your home.”
“You can’t win a pissing contest with a skunk.”
“Too many corporate chiefs and not enough Indians.”
“You don’t walk into a guy’s office and piss on his desk and expect him to sign a contract.”
“When more than 25% of the value of your stock is something that you haven’t done yet, get real nervous, real fast.”
Read
March 9, 2021Beneficiaries of the rise of train transport were companies that owned the rails.
These days Apple benefits once someone decides to build a mobile app for iPhone users. Because Apple owns the rails: iPhone and Appstore.
TCI played a similar role during the rise of television - because it owned cables.
History about the vertical and horizontal integration. About the company who didn't care much about customer service - and become the biggest cable company in the USA. About days when HBO, Discovery and CNN were technological startups and cable companies behaved like VCs.
Now I know what is the mutual connection between Alexander Graham Bell and HBO.
The book includes a lot of stories about "class A/B/etc shares", acquisitions and deals between companies that own dozens of other companies. That's why an audiobook wasn't a good choice - listening took forever. Declared 11 hours isn't much - if you don't have to replay parts about shares and cable industry specifics. The book is about "Texas cable cowboys" so an entire audiobook was read with the Texas accent.
These days Apple benefits once someone decides to build a mobile app for iPhone users. Because Apple owns the rails: iPhone and Appstore.
TCI played a similar role during the rise of television - because it owned cables.
History about the vertical and horizontal integration. About the company who didn't care much about customer service - and become the biggest cable company in the USA. About days when HBO, Discovery and CNN were technological startups and cable companies behaved like VCs.
Now I know what is the mutual connection between Alexander Graham Bell and HBO.
The book includes a lot of stories about "class A/B/etc shares", acquisitions and deals between companies that own dozens of other companies. That's why an audiobook wasn't a good choice - listening took forever. Declared 11 hours isn't much - if you don't have to replay parts about shares and cable industry specifics. The book is about "Texas cable cowboys" so an entire audiobook was read with the Texas accent.
August 21, 2017
I first read about John Malone in Joel Greenblatt's legendary book "You can be a stock market genius". Later I read about his again in The Outsider's by William Thorndike. Few things about him stood out. He was all about cash flow while Wall Street concentrated on accounting earnings. Secondly, he used leverage exceedingly partially to reduce effective tax rate. And he liked to acquire companies. Some of the things Malone did are similar to what Amazon has done later on (long term horizon, cash flow focus etc).
Cable Cowboy explains his story in more details. Unfortunately for me the book was less about the techniques he used but more about the ups and downs he faced. It was still a good read and I would recommend it.
Cable Cowboy explains his story in more details. Unfortunately for me the book was less about the techniques he used but more about the ups and downs he faced. It was still a good read and I would recommend it.
January 27, 2021
Definitely a 4.5, but giving it a 4.
May 23, 2024
Worth the read
Fascinating insight into the industry as well as Malone actions.
Good writing style, super fun to read.
Found particularly fascinating the cross ownership of the companies.
Fascinating insight into the industry as well as Malone actions.
Good writing style, super fun to read.
Found particularly fascinating the cross ownership of the companies.
October 28, 2022
The crucial importance of using cash flow and shielding earnings via depreciation to build a strong business.
April 28, 2014
If you work in the media industry it's a must read, it's a very interesting and insightful book.
October 7, 2019
I really enjoyed this book, but have to admit the financial transactions and details within were hard to follow. John Malone's financial acumen was what I admired most about this book - from creating a new metric (EBITDA) to his single focus on creating shareholder value through tax deferrals and tracking stocks - it was amazing to read about this aspect of his life.
A few other threads I enjoyed were understanding where value is created in the cable industry, always have alternatives with suppliers (great story re: Gates trying to be the cable box for the cable industry) and cash flows versus earnings.
Here are the key takeaways I took from this book:
1. Despite its reputation as a risky play, through 1997, TCI outperformed every other stock in the market. A single share of TCI, purchased at the low 1974 of 75 cents, was worth $4,184 by the end of 1997 - a 5,578-fold increase. (introduction ix)
2. Great summary on why the cable business model is "genius" (page 14)
3. How Malone developed intuition to see answers before his rivals did (page 25)
4. "After tax cash earnings simply didn't count; what counted was cable prodigious cash flow, funding TCI's continual expansion (page 45) - One of the great parts of the books, which explains why cash flows matter more than earnings - GREAT passage here.
5. How the Ali-Frazier fight transformed the economics of cable TV (+ helped launch HBO) [page 52]
6. When Malone's realized the power of programming and how TCI could own both the pipe and the water flowing through it (page 59).
7. "A Cable franchise was essentially a legal right to a local monopoly - operations had to answer to local government and win approval for rate increases." (page 62)
8. Malone's strategy / business thinking (amazing process) - page 77
9. A paragraph that sums of the entire book "Forget about earnings. That's a priesthood of accounting profession," he would preach. What you're really after is appreciating assets. You want to own as much of that asset as you can; then you want to finance it as efficiently as possible. And above all else, make sure that the deals you do avoid as much in taxes as is legally possible. And then some. (page 81) - literally sums of the key points of the book here.
10. Malone's thought on running a highly decentralized business (page 84).
11. Malone's business philosophy explained (page 105).
12. The creation of Liberty Media and the thoughts behind separating distribution/content (page 112). The favorable Liberty Media set up that Malone created from the spin (but that few understood at the time).
13. Redstone sued Malone in 1993 - in his opening words of his lawsuit Redstone summarized the key issues the American Consumer/Competitors had with Malone (largely his monopoly power over the entire cable industry supply chain). (page 135)
14. Thoughts on tracking stocks (page 159 and page 247).
15. The cable industry's unique position as the 1990s set out - the internet could not exist without the fat pipes of the cable industry (page 213).
16. AT&T has non-owners of the business - control vs. good business economics (page 265) - great section on why founders run a business SO much better.
A few other threads I enjoyed were understanding where value is created in the cable industry, always have alternatives with suppliers (great story re: Gates trying to be the cable box for the cable industry) and cash flows versus earnings.
Here are the key takeaways I took from this book:
1. Despite its reputation as a risky play, through 1997, TCI outperformed every other stock in the market. A single share of TCI, purchased at the low 1974 of 75 cents, was worth $4,184 by the end of 1997 - a 5,578-fold increase. (introduction ix)
2. Great summary on why the cable business model is "genius" (page 14)
3. How Malone developed intuition to see answers before his rivals did (page 25)
4. "After tax cash earnings simply didn't count; what counted was cable prodigious cash flow, funding TCI's continual expansion (page 45) - One of the great parts of the books, which explains why cash flows matter more than earnings - GREAT passage here.
5. How the Ali-Frazier fight transformed the economics of cable TV (+ helped launch HBO) [page 52]
6. When Malone's realized the power of programming and how TCI could own both the pipe and the water flowing through it (page 59).
7. "A Cable franchise was essentially a legal right to a local monopoly - operations had to answer to local government and win approval for rate increases." (page 62)
8. Malone's strategy / business thinking (amazing process) - page 77
9. A paragraph that sums of the entire book "Forget about earnings. That's a priesthood of accounting profession," he would preach. What you're really after is appreciating assets. You want to own as much of that asset as you can; then you want to finance it as efficiently as possible. And above all else, make sure that the deals you do avoid as much in taxes as is legally possible. And then some. (page 81) - literally sums of the key points of the book here.
10. Malone's thought on running a highly decentralized business (page 84).
11. Malone's business philosophy explained (page 105).
12. The creation of Liberty Media and the thoughts behind separating distribution/content (page 112). The favorable Liberty Media set up that Malone created from the spin (but that few understood at the time).
13. Redstone sued Malone in 1993 - in his opening words of his lawsuit Redstone summarized the key issues the American Consumer/Competitors had with Malone (largely his monopoly power over the entire cable industry supply chain). (page 135)
14. Thoughts on tracking stocks (page 159 and page 247).
15. The cable industry's unique position as the 1990s set out - the internet could not exist without the fat pipes of the cable industry (page 213).
16. AT&T has non-owners of the business - control vs. good business economics (page 265) - great section on why founders run a business SO much better.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 23, 2020
This tome seems to have a lot of good business lessons, and I would say that is its strength, rather than an interesting story line.
The first few chapters - the story of Malone's childhood and experience at college - were actually interesting. Even the story of his first job and how he came to Tele-Communications Inc (TCI) were good. But after the author gets Malone to TCI and describes the challenges Malone is going to face, the book becomes more like a 250 page case study of the cable industry (or maybe any industry where a business faces crushing debt but excellent cash flow - like AT&T today).
For a business that can be successful under the conditions described above (crushing debt and excellent cash flow), I think it will always mostly be a capital intensive monopoly. After listening to Malone's tactics (over promise to cities, then litigate to prevent them from bringing in a new cable company), I don't know whether to revere Malone or hate him. As a consumer, I couldn't help but feel that he is everything wrong with business owners. Horrible customer service (week plus response times to malfunctioning equipment), failure to upgrade networks when TCI signed agreements to do so, and hardball tactics (like shutting off programming or suing cities who tried to get TCI to fulfill their agreements).
I think the truth is that the cable model was to lie about cable capabilities and then charge customers less than what was necessary to really have a good cable network. It seems to me that customers/cities didn't want to pay the true price to get the services they wanted. On the other hand, it seems super shady to promise what you can't deliver at a price point.
Also, all the financial engineering made me want to vomit. John Malone is smarter than everyone else and wanted to make sure no one could understand his financial transactions until he got the money he wanted out of those transactions.
At the end of the book, after the sale of TCI to AT&T, it becomes apparent how much better Malone understood the cable industry than Michael Armstrong. However, because of Malone's penchant for self-dealing, Armstrong never trusted him, and the TCI acquisition turned into a horrible mistake.
The first few chapters - the story of Malone's childhood and experience at college - were actually interesting. Even the story of his first job and how he came to Tele-Communications Inc (TCI) were good. But after the author gets Malone to TCI and describes the challenges Malone is going to face, the book becomes more like a 250 page case study of the cable industry (or maybe any industry where a business faces crushing debt but excellent cash flow - like AT&T today).
For a business that can be successful under the conditions described above (crushing debt and excellent cash flow), I think it will always mostly be a capital intensive monopoly. After listening to Malone's tactics (over promise to cities, then litigate to prevent them from bringing in a new cable company), I don't know whether to revere Malone or hate him. As a consumer, I couldn't help but feel that he is everything wrong with business owners. Horrible customer service (week plus response times to malfunctioning equipment), failure to upgrade networks when TCI signed agreements to do so, and hardball tactics (like shutting off programming or suing cities who tried to get TCI to fulfill their agreements).
I think the truth is that the cable model was to lie about cable capabilities and then charge customers less than what was necessary to really have a good cable network. It seems to me that customers/cities didn't want to pay the true price to get the services they wanted. On the other hand, it seems super shady to promise what you can't deliver at a price point.
Also, all the financial engineering made me want to vomit. John Malone is smarter than everyone else and wanted to make sure no one could understand his financial transactions until he got the money he wanted out of those transactions.
At the end of the book, after the sale of TCI to AT&T, it becomes apparent how much better Malone understood the cable industry than Michael Armstrong. However, because of Malone's penchant for self-dealing, Armstrong never trusted him, and the TCI acquisition turned into a horrible mistake.
April 20, 2023
John Malone is an interesting fellow! The book provided a good overview of John Malone and the cable TV business generally from the start of the industry through 2000. I knew nothing about the industry going in so it was quite educational. I thought at times some things could've been explained more clearly, but the subject matter is complicated.
In terms of my impression of John Malone, I have mixed feelings. On the one hand I think he's kind of an asshole. I'm not against businesses having a monopoly but the way he flexed his monopoly power and the negotiating tactics he used because of his power were dirty at times. One example would be if programmers (say ESPN or CNN) didn't agree to cutting rates he would say at 12 a.m. your channel will be cut off on all of TCI's cable systems. Or if negotiating with a city that wanted to receive higher rates, he might cut off a channel and on a black screen on that channel write 'channel cancelled due to your local representative - call 325-833-0000 to complain.' There's lots of examples but that's what I remember now. He liked to play hardball. Also there were a number of times where he gave himself a sweetheart deal, above and beyond what minority shareholders would get.
But also he was so shrewd it seems like in his understanding of business and his ability to creatively structure deals to shelter from taxes and maximize shareholder value. It'd be interesting to read in more detail about the strategies he used to avoid taxes. Also while the above paragraph makes him out to be an asshole, a lot of people around him seem to love him and in fact view him with a sort of reverence. On a 14-hour flight he basically gave a lecture to a competitor CEO about the industry and tax-sheltering. The guy said he felt like he was in school again with how much he had learned and that sometimes with John it felt like he was playing 3-D chess while you were only in one dimension. Malone also bought a bunch of land to preserve it from being developed. He's big on loyalty and did not like media; he especially hated regulatory stuff and going to Washington to get grilled by politicians.
In terms of my impression of John Malone, I have mixed feelings. On the one hand I think he's kind of an asshole. I'm not against businesses having a monopoly but the way he flexed his monopoly power and the negotiating tactics he used because of his power were dirty at times. One example would be if programmers (say ESPN or CNN) didn't agree to cutting rates he would say at 12 a.m. your channel will be cut off on all of TCI's cable systems. Or if negotiating with a city that wanted to receive higher rates, he might cut off a channel and on a black screen on that channel write 'channel cancelled due to your local representative - call 325-833-0000 to complain.' There's lots of examples but that's what I remember now. He liked to play hardball. Also there were a number of times where he gave himself a sweetheart deal, above and beyond what minority shareholders would get.
But also he was so shrewd it seems like in his understanding of business and his ability to creatively structure deals to shelter from taxes and maximize shareholder value. It'd be interesting to read in more detail about the strategies he used to avoid taxes. Also while the above paragraph makes him out to be an asshole, a lot of people around him seem to love him and in fact view him with a sort of reverence. On a 14-hour flight he basically gave a lecture to a competitor CEO about the industry and tax-sheltering. The guy said he felt like he was in school again with how much he had learned and that sometimes with John it felt like he was playing 3-D chess while you were only in one dimension. Malone also bought a bunch of land to preserve it from being developed. He's big on loyalty and did not like media; he especially hated regulatory stuff and going to Washington to get grilled by politicians.
April 27, 2023
primary takeaway: William Goldman obviously never met John Malone.
“Nobody knows anything.” -Hollywood scriptwriter/overpaid hack, W. Goldman’s often-quoted observation about working in the entertainment industry.
John Malone is a bit of a quandary for applicable memoir material(s): He's genuinely good at his job, natively intelligent & forthcoming, and has little interest in pointing out others shortcomings or malfeasance .. in other words, he makes for uneventful reading.
Nevertheless of the wannabe moguls and executive-counterparts who feigned his accolades & wealth:
• Barry Diller
• Rupert Murdoch
• Bill Gates
• Sumner Redstone
...Malone is easily the most persistently inventive, decisive and plain-spoken of the lot ... albeit maybe not so much Diller? John Malone is 100 the self-made man all those others can only market themselves as.
Considering Malone's achievements since early-2000s, his complete chronology is deserving retread or even supplemental manuscript?
August 10, 2023
A fascinating history on the largest US cable provider, which played it’s part in bringing the television and internet to every day people’s homes. Malone figured out how to do acquisitions. He realized that that the economies of scale (minimizing programming costs per user) outweighed the cost of debt interest. He used acquisition amortization and the interest payments to shield his profits from taxes. He intentionally gave bad customer service and under invested in his equipment to keep costs low, something that is not taught in business schools. He also navigated the M&A market well. Malone effectively stole hundreds millions from shareholders, but he created billions in shareholder value. If you were to invest in him from bottom to top, you would have made >5000x your money. He played dirty to survive, which asks the question of situation ethics, but as the cowboy movie goes, no country for old men.
October 4, 2018
It started out great. The first quarter or so was very interesting, telling how cable operators got started, when TV was a new phenomenon, sweeping the nation. There was some picturesque description of how cities were connected to better TV reception, via microwave towers on hilltops and poles carrying cable snaked their way into the valley.
Unfortunately the rest of the book gets very dry. If you're interested in business and investing, you probably won't find it a worthwhile read, given the time it takes to slog through all those pages.
There is diligent rattling off of what percentage stake in which company another company took and how much money in stock and cash changed hands. But as far as valuable insights... Had it been told in half as many pages, easily could have been a 4-star book.
Unfortunately the rest of the book gets very dry. If you're interested in business and investing, you probably won't find it a worthwhile read, given the time it takes to slog through all those pages.
There is diligent rattling off of what percentage stake in which company another company took and how much money in stock and cash changed hands. But as far as valuable insights... Had it been told in half as many pages, easily could have been a 4-star book.
April 29, 2025
One of the least interesting business books I have read in a very long time...
Mark Robichaux’s Cable Cowboy offers a detailed account of John Malone’s rise in the cable industry and the evolution of the business itself, but for anyone seeking a narrative that pulls them in, it may fall flat.
While it presents a thorough industry history and insight into Malone’s financial strategies, it can be dense with financial details and technicalities, making it hard to follow for those not already interested in corporate finance or media deals.
Robichaux’s writing style is competent, but the book’s focus on balance sheets, tax strategies, and deal-making may feel tedious and uninspired to readers looking for a more dynamic or character-driven business story.
Malone himself, despite being a central figure, is never fleshed out - so never fully comes to life on the page.
Mark Robichaux’s Cable Cowboy offers a detailed account of John Malone’s rise in the cable industry and the evolution of the business itself, but for anyone seeking a narrative that pulls them in, it may fall flat.
While it presents a thorough industry history and insight into Malone’s financial strategies, it can be dense with financial details and technicalities, making it hard to follow for those not already interested in corporate finance or media deals.
Robichaux’s writing style is competent, but the book’s focus on balance sheets, tax strategies, and deal-making may feel tedious and uninspired to readers looking for a more dynamic or character-driven business story.
Malone himself, despite being a central figure, is never fleshed out - so never fully comes to life on the page.
March 28, 2020
Great topic, awful book.
John Malone is one of the most interesting businessmen of the 20th century, forging TCI into the country’s largest cable company out of practically nothing in 25 years. He competed against prominent names (which come up throughout the book) like Rupert Murdoch, Steve Ross, Ted Turner, Brian Roberts, Bill Gates, Chuck and Mike Dolan, Al Gore, Ergen, and Maffei (now his protege). He worked alongside Hindery and Magness. The network this guy worked with and against on a daily basis is just insane.
Very few lessons were taken from this book, other than a great topic can be spoiled by poor storytelling and bad writing. Also streaming wars are basically the exact same thing as cable wars just 30-35 years later.
John Malone is one of the most interesting businessmen of the 20th century, forging TCI into the country’s largest cable company out of practically nothing in 25 years. He competed against prominent names (which come up throughout the book) like Rupert Murdoch, Steve Ross, Ted Turner, Brian Roberts, Bill Gates, Chuck and Mike Dolan, Al Gore, Ergen, and Maffei (now his protege). He worked alongside Hindery and Magness. The network this guy worked with and against on a daily basis is just insane.
Very few lessons were taken from this book, other than a great topic can be spoiled by poor storytelling and bad writing. Also streaming wars are basically the exact same thing as cable wars just 30-35 years later.
June 10, 2017
Very interesting and thorough overview of John Malone's career and his broader role in the development of the modern cable industry. The book did a decent job with chronology but jumped around a bit more than necessary. The author clearly knows and understands Malone, but stops short on several occasions of making what seem like clear and intuitive conclusions about his character. Maybe this is intentional. The author has an intriguing and well crafted style.
Perhaps due to Malone's nature, the book is a little light on in depth anecdotes, a feature that would help bring a clearly enigmatic character to life.
Perhaps due to Malone's nature, the book is a little light on in depth anecdotes, a feature that would help bring a clearly enigmatic character to life.
June 15, 2017
* Don't compete with your competitors if you can collaborate. Best deal is where everyone is happy, invest with them and align incentives.
* Elaborate complex transactions tend to give you the advantage and can help others safe face while maintaining economics in your favor.
*Always be as tax efficient as possible and use your least valuable currencies (potentially inflated stock price over cash).
* Investors like "Pure Plays" and are willing to pay a premium for it. If you can issue separate shares for distinct parts of the business than do it. It will help clarify the business and may allow you to perform acquisition without putting up for grabs the whole business.
September 24, 2019
This book is history and I'm not a fan of history. That being said, I did not like the way this was written. I found it to be not very readable. It was also wordy and had extra details that really weren't needed. Ex/ instead of saying they had a meeting, it was something like, "On a cold wednesday morning, at blank hotel, the character's discussed blank over muffins." Ok that whole sentence isn't needed. I wouldn't have a problem with it if the book was written like story, but it wasn't. It kept jumping back and forth between a list of facts and a story. I also feel like the author was taking some liberties on what the characters could be thinking. I did not enjoy this.
August 6, 2020
Facinating account of the bootstrapping of TCI from a small local cable operator into the biggest cable company in the USA. I found insight into the rationale for decisions taken by John Malone in particular broadened my perspective around possible collaboration between rivals in deal making.
What was also interesting is how Malone did not make the insane money he ended up with intil he found ways to extract favourable equity for himself in deals, beginning with the Liberty spin off.
The change in industry dynamics when industry outsides started getting control of major firms was also enlightening and could be useful as a model to view many other idustries in flux.
What was also interesting is how Malone did not make the insane money he ended up with intil he found ways to extract favourable equity for himself in deals, beginning with the Liberty spin off.
The change in industry dynamics when industry outsides started getting control of major firms was also enlightening and could be useful as a model to view many other idustries in flux.
September 5, 2020
Understanding John Malone seems as difficult as deciphering some of his rights offering prospectuses in the 90's, but Mark Robichaux does an excellent job tracing his rise in the cable industry as a skilled operator and capital allocator.
Malone's several year stint at management consulting firm McKinsey proved as essential as his educational background in electrical engineering, economics, and operations research. He learned how big companies DON'T work and that an executive who rises to the top of a big corporation and owns none of it cares is much more interested in control than he is in economics. Instead of joining Steve Ross at high-flying Warner Communications with a high management salary, Malone opted to join Robert Magness at TCI at a lower salary and deployed his own money (and borrowed!) to invest in the cable upstart.
It certainly helped that Malone astutely chose the cable industry in the 1970's because of the underlying industry economics: 1) cable franchises were a legal right to a local monopoly; 2) monopoly rights allow cable operators to collect subscription fees; 3) highly predictable subscription fees allowed cable companies to use debt/leverage themselves to finance acquisition of other cable networks, equipment suppliers, and network programmers; 4) vertical integration created numerous efficiencies on SG&A line and pricing power versus subscribers and rest of cable industry supply chain.
Malone's career at TCI provides a blueprint of how to create shareholder value: 1) own as much of an asset as you can; 2) finance as cheaply as possible, preferably using debt; 3) structure deal to pay as few taxes as late as possible; 4) reinvestment in the company/don't pay shareholder dividends; 5) keep overhead low; 6) structure executive compensation to align their incentives with company's.
Malone's several year stint at management consulting firm McKinsey proved as essential as his educational background in electrical engineering, economics, and operations research. He learned how big companies DON'T work and that an executive who rises to the top of a big corporation and owns none of it cares is much more interested in control than he is in economics. Instead of joining Steve Ross at high-flying Warner Communications with a high management salary, Malone opted to join Robert Magness at TCI at a lower salary and deployed his own money (and borrowed!) to invest in the cable upstart.
It certainly helped that Malone astutely chose the cable industry in the 1970's because of the underlying industry economics: 1) cable franchises were a legal right to a local monopoly; 2) monopoly rights allow cable operators to collect subscription fees; 3) highly predictable subscription fees allowed cable companies to use debt/leverage themselves to finance acquisition of other cable networks, equipment suppliers, and network programmers; 4) vertical integration created numerous efficiencies on SG&A line and pricing power versus subscribers and rest of cable industry supply chain.
Malone's career at TCI provides a blueprint of how to create shareholder value: 1) own as much of an asset as you can; 2) finance as cheaply as possible, preferably using debt; 3) structure deal to pay as few taxes as late as possible; 4) reinvestment in the company/don't pay shareholder dividends; 5) keep overhead low; 6) structure executive compensation to align their incentives with company's.
August 11, 2017
Interesting read on a colorful character in the industry. I enjoyed learning about how John Malone invented several now-standard metrics of operating performance (EBITDA, etc) and how generating earnings was regarded with ambivalence at best due to tax implications. Malone and his cohorts had an obsessive desire to avoid taxation. I struggled with the inconsistency of Malone's libertarianism with the fact that so much of his early success stemmed from being granted govt-sanctioned monopolies. Still, he was impressive in his patience and deal-making prowess.
December 8, 2019
The book narrates how John Malone came to be a leader in the cable industry. It also has mentions of the trials and successes of several other business people who were connected to cable in some way, like Ted Turner, Bill Gates, and Paul Allen.
My takeaway is that John Malone succeeded due to his relationship-building within the industry and creative structuring of financial transactions. He spent long hours working and traveled for work regularly. Sailing in Maine and cattle ranching outside of Denver were two sources of relaxation for him.
My takeaway is that John Malone succeeded due to his relationship-building within the industry and creative structuring of financial transactions. He spent long hours working and traveled for work regularly. Sailing in Maine and cattle ranching outside of Denver were two sources of relaxation for him.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 128 reviews