Did You Read It: Cable Cowboy

Did You Read It takes on Cable Cowboy, by Mark Robichaux, 2002: how John Malone built TCI, a rural antenna company with $132 million of debt on $19.2 million of sales, into the biggest cable operator in America on debt, depreciation write-offs and cash flow. Question one: a share bought at 75 cents in 1974, worth what by 1997? Gary: fifty bucks. Marcie: $4,184, a 5,578-fold rise, from the introduction. Question two: a fifth of which channel for $180,000? Gary: the Weather Channel. Marcie: BET, chapter four, done in about 45 minutes; his rule was a fifth of every programmer that came calling. Bonus, the thesis: borrow, buy, write it off, never show a profit; chapter three has him calling net income an invention of accountants.

Cable Cowboy, by Mark Robichaux, 2002, tells how John Malone took TCI, a rural antenna company carrying $132 million of debt on $19.2 million of revenue, to the top of American cable by borrowing, buying systems, living on depreciation write-offs and dismissing net income as an accountants' invention: a share bought at the 1974 low of 75 cents was worth $4,184 by the end of 1997, a 5,578-fold rise, and his rule was to own a fifth of every programmer that came calling, starting with a fifth of BET for $180,000 in a 45-minute meeting.

On the book: Cable Cowboy by Mark Robichaux

Starring

🎙️Announcer LouRex FontaineMarcieGary