John Carl Malone (born March 7, 1941) is an Americanbillionaire businessman, landowner, and philanthropist. He waschief executive officer (CEO) ofTele-Communications Inc. (TCI), a cable and media giant, from 1973 to 1996. As of 2016, Malone is now chairman and largest voting shareholder ofLiberty Media,Liberty Global, andQurate Retail Group (formerly known as Liberty Interactive). He once owned 7% ofLionsgate andStarz Inc.^[1][2][3][4] He was interim CEO of Liberty Media until succeeded by formerMicrosoft andOracle CFOGreg Maffei.

Malone was the largest private landowner in the United States from 2011 and 2021; As of 2022, he is currently ranked second, possessing 2.2 million acres (890,000 hectares), more than twice the area ofRhode Island.^[5]

John C. Malone was born on March 7, 1941, inMilford, Connecticut.^[6][7] His father was Daniel L. Malone, an engineer.^[8] Malone is of Irish heritage, his family originating in County Cork.^[9][10][11] Malone is a Catholic.^[12]

In 1959, Malone graduated fromHopkins School inNew Haven, Connecticut. In 1963, he graduated fromYale University with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and economics,^[13] where he was aPhi Beta Kappa andNational Merit scholar. In 1964, Malone graduated fromJohns Hopkins University with a master's degree in industrial management.^[13] He received a master's in electrical engineering at an NYU program at Bell Labs in 1965 before receiving his PhD inoperations research at Johns Hopkins in 1967.^[14]

In 1963, Malone began his business career atBell Telephone Laboratories ofAT&T, working in economic planning and research and development. In 1968, he joinedMcKinsey & Company, and in 1970, became group vice president atGeneral Instrument Corporation (GI). He was later president ofJerrold Electronics, a GI subsidiary. For twenty-four years, from 1973 to 1996, Malone served as president and CEO ofTele-Communications Inc. (TCI).^[13]

Malone is on the boards of directors forBank of New York Mellon,Expedia.com,Charter Communications,Warner Bros. Discovery, andLions Gate Entertainment Corp.^[15][16] Malone is chairman emeritus ofCable Television Laboratories, Inc. and chairman ofLiberty Global, Inc., and formerly theDirecTV Group.^[14] His rise to chairman atLiberty Global was contentious at times.

In 2005, Malone held 32 percent of the shares in the media companyNews Corporation, and although only about half were voting shares,Rupert Murdoch reportedly had concerns that he might lose control of his company to Malone, and tried to oust him from the firm with a "poison pill" strategy.^[17] He was director of theNational Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) from 1974 to 1977, and again from 1980 to 1993. During the 1977–1978 term, Malone was the NCTA's treasurer.^[14]

In 1992, Malone coined the term500-channel universe to describe a future media environment where a vast number ofTV channels would be available, by eliminating the need for broadcast radio channels as ascarce resource.^[18]

In business dealings Malone has been dubbed "Darth Vader", a nickname allegedly given to him byAl Gore when Malone was the head of TCI.^[19]

In 1994,Wired portrayed Malone on their cover as "Mad Max" fromThe Road Warrior (also known asMad Max 2), with an interview describing his battles with the FCC.^[20] He is also known as the "Cable Cowboy".^[21]

Bloomberg estimated him to be worth overUS$9billion in May 2021.^[22]

Malone ownsSilver Spur Ranches, a ranching and beef company which includes the Silver Spur Ranch inEncampment, Wyoming,Bell Ranch and the TO Ranch inNew Mexico, Bridlewood Farm, a thoroughbred breeding, training and racing operation in Ocala, Florida; as well as ranches inWalden, Colorado, andKiowa, Colorado.^[7][23] His international real estate holdings includeHumewood Castle^[24] andCastlemartin House and Estate, both in Ireland.

As of 1 February 2011^[update], he surpassedTed Turner as the largest individual private landowner in the US, owning 2,200,000 acres (8,900 km²) of land, much of which is inMaine,Colorado,New Mexico, andWyoming.^[25] Malone held the top spot as America's largest landowner for 10 years, according to the 2022 The Land Report's ranking of the top 100 U.S. landowners. In 2021, the ranking listed Malone as the second largest landowner behind theEmmerson Family.^[26]

In 2000, Malone gave $24 million to theYale School of Engineering & Applied Science in New Haven for the construction ofYale's Daniel L. Malone Engineering Center, named in honor of his father.^[8]

In 2011, Malone gave theJohns HopkinsWhiting School of Engineering in Baltimore its largest gift ever of $30 million for a new building onHomewood Campus.^[13] The building will be named Malone Hall.^[27]

In the same year, he gave the Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science's largest gift ever of $50 million.^[8]

Malone has also given $60 million toHopkins School in New Haven to fund the construction of two new buildings, Malone Science Center, named for his father, as well as Heath Commons, named after his favorite Hopkins teacher.

In 2014, Malone and his wife donated $42.5 million toColorado State University to help create their Institute for Biologic Translational Therapies, which aims to develop stem cell and other treatments for animals and people. Of the donation, $32.5 million will pay for half the construction costs and $10 million will go to operational expenses.^[28]

In 2021, the Malones donated $25 million to Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine, for the hospital’s $534 million capital improvement project. Maine Medical Center will name a new tower for cardiac and vascular services the Malone Family Tower; Leslie Malone recently received cardiac care at the hospital.^[29]

In 1997, he established the Malone Family Foundation, which operates the Malone Scholars Program that provides scholarship endowments to certain private schools throughout the United States.^[30]

Malone is married to Leslie, they have two children and live inElizabeth, Colorado.^[31][32] His wife is active indressage and horse breeding and she founded Harmony Sporthorses inKiowa, Colorado.^[33] In 2008, their son Evan D. Malone joined the board ofLiberty Media.^[34][35] Malone reportedly shuns the limelight and glamorous lifestyle, taking his family vacations alongside long-time friend Gary Biskup in arecreational vehicle.^[36][37] The State of Colorado named Malone a "Citizen of the West" in 2016.^[38][39]

Malone's political beliefs have been described aslibertarian.^[40] He is on the board of directors for theCato Institute. He donated US$250,000 toDonald Trump. He also expressed support forMichael Bloomberg in the2020 United States presidential election.^[41]

• L. J. Davis (1998).Billionaire Shell Game: How Cable Baron John Malone and Assorted Corporate Titans Invented a Future Nobody Wanted. Doubleday.ISBN 978-0-385-47927-1.
• Mark Robichaux (2005).Cable Cowboy: John Malone and the Rise of the Modern Cable Business. Wiley.ISBN 978-0-471-70637-3.

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