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UPDATE 1-Liberty Media posts rise in op profits

Mon Nov 9, 2009 11:38am EST

Stocks

   

* Q3 oper income up 42 percent driven by QVC, Starz

* QVC Q3 adj operating income up 10 pct

NEW YORK, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Liberty Media Corp, the media conglomerate controlled by John Malone, posted on Monday an increase in aggregate operating profit across its three units.

Liberty Media's operating income aggregated across its Liberty Interactive (LINTA.O), Liberty Entertainment LMDIA.O and Liberty Capital (LCAPA.O) units rose 42 percent to $206 million in the third quarter from $145 million a year ago.

Liberty's Liberty Interactive unit, which owns the QVC TV retail business, posted a posted an 11 percent increase in adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization (OIBDA) to $345 million on a revenue increase of 2 percent to $1.8 billion.

The company said the increases were primarily due to improved performance at QVC which had been hurt in recent quarters by the global consumer spending downturn. QVC's revenue rose by 2 percent to $1.7 billion and adjusted OIBDA rose 10 percent to $343 million.

Liberty said it bought back $740 million of Liberty Interactive stock during the quarter.

Liberty Entertainment Group posted a 16 percent increase in adjusted OIBDA to $86 million while revenue rose 2 percent to $369 million helped by positive results at its Starz Entertainment pay-TV business.

Liberty Capital, the investment arm of Liberty Media, said its revenue decreased by 22 percent to $171 million due to drop in theatrical and home video revenue at its Starz Media businesses.

Liberty's mix of assets include significant holdings in Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI.O); leading U.S. satellite TV company DIRECTV Group (DTV.O) and satellite radio company Sirius XM (SIRI.O).

Liberty is in the process of splitting off some of its assets under the Liberty Entertainment Inc banner to be combined with DirecTV to create a new larger company that will still be called DirecTV.

The split-off will lead to the creation of a new Liberty Starz common stock.

The company said in a statement that its board has approved a $500 million Liberty Starz stock repurchase and has decided not to proceed with reverse stock splits for the Liberty Capital and Liberty Interactive groups. (Reporting by Yinka Adegoke; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)



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