From Publishers Weekly
In 1973, 29-year-old John Malone became the CEO of a debt-ridden Denver cable company, Tele-Communications, Incorporated; in 1998, he sold TCI for $48 billion. In the intervening 25 years he frenetically built a cable and media monopoly. Robichaux, an editor at the Wall Street Journal, pens an account that is part Horatio Alger success story and part cautionary tale of the abuses of unfettered capitalism (the latter a more timely narrative these days). Malone is a complicated hero; focused and driven, he built his empire largely through clever, complicated financing deals that sidestepped bank rules and taxes and enriched an inside group of shareholders. In the spirit of "charge as much as you can for a product...and spend as little as you can get away with," TCI, the author says, provided shoddy service to cable subscribers and bought out potential competitors to keep the cable industry an insular cartel. When local governments protested, Malone cut off service. Robichaux doesn't make much of it, but it's notable that junk bond financier Michael Milken and the former CEO of Global Crossing, Leo Hindery, appear in these pages as Malone's trusted friends. Although he cooperated with Robichaux for this book, Malone doesn't (as do minor characters like Ted Turner) spring to life from its pages. In this, once again, the reclusive Malone seems to have gotten things his way. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Book Description
An inside look at a cable titan and his industry
John Malone, hailed as one of the great unsung heroes of our age by some and reviled by others as a ruthless robber baron, is revealed as a bit of both in Cable Cowboy. For more than twenty-five years, Malone has dominated the cable television industry, shaping the world of entertainment and communications, first with his cable company TCI and later with Liberty Media. Written with Malone's unprecedented cooperation, the engaging narrative brings this controversial capitalist and businessman to life. Cable Cowboy is at once a penetrating portrait of Malone's complex persona, and a captivating history of the cable TV industry. Told in a lively style with exclusive details, the book shows how an unassuming copper strand started as a backwoods antenna service and became the digital nervous system of the U.S., an evolution that gave U.S. consumers the fastest route to the Internet. Cable Cowboy reveals the forces that propelled this pioneer to such great heights, and captures the immovable conviction and quicksilver mind that have defined John Malone throughout his career.


Book Info
Robichaux has provided a smart assessment of the cable industry through the wild narrative of John Malone, and turned it into a tale that manages to be both colorful and informative.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

John Malone's rise to power within cable television was wild and improbable, and it mirrors how the nation's network of high-speed cable wires -- the most sophisticated in the world -- came to be. In Cable Cowboy: John Malone and the Rise of the Modern Cable Business, author Mark Robichaux paints a riveting portrait of Malone and details the competitive struggles of the industry through the eyes of the man who would come to dominate it.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

In 1973, 29-year-old John Malone became the CEO of a debt-ridden Denver cable company, Tele-Communications, Incorporated; in 1998, he sold TCI for $48 billion. In the intervening 25 years he frenetically built a cable and media monopoly. Robichaux, an editor at the Wall Street Journal, pens an account that is part Horatio Alger success story and part cautionary tale of the abuses of unfettered capitalism (the latter a more timely narrative these days). Malone is a complicated hero; focused and driven, he built his empire largely through clever, complicated financing deals that sidestepped bank rules and taxes and enriched an inside group of shareholders. In the spirit of "[c]harge as much as you can for a product...and spend as little as you can get away with," TCI, the author says, provided shoddy service to cable subscribers and bought out potential competitors to keep the cable industry an insular cartel. When local governments protested, Malone cut off service. Robichaux doesn't make much of it, but it's notable that junk bond financier Michael Milken and the former CEO of Global Crossing, Leo Hindery, appear in these pages as Malone's trusted friends. Although he cooperated with Robichaux for this book, Malone doesn't (as do minor characters like Ted Turner) spring to life from its pages. In this, once again, the reclusive Malone seems to have gotten things his way. (Nov.) Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Robichaux, an editor of the Wall Street Journal's "Weekend" section, covered cable television for the paper from 1989 to 2001. Here he draws on interviews and published sources to produce a well-written account of John Malone. In the early 1970s, at the young age of 29, Malone took over a small cable company on the edge of bankruptcy known as Tele-Communications, Inc. (TCI), which he adeptly turned around and in 1998 sold to AT&T for $48 billion, making it the largest media merger in history. The author weaves an intricate tale of the cable industry and TCI as he reveals the brilliant deal-making strategies that built the largest cable company in the world. A typical strategy would be to swap stock, which defers recognition of profit on the deal whereby taxes would not have to be paid. Using these tactics, Malone acquired hundreds of companies and was viewed as a monopolist, creating a political backlash in Washington that caused him to be called Darth Vader, Genghis Khan, and the Godfather rolled into one. Readable and well researched, this work is unauthorized but was written with Malone's cooperation. Recommended for media collections in public libraries and those interested in the "art of the deal."-Bellinda Wise, Nassau Community Coll. Lib., Garden City, NY

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

With skill and precision, author Mark Robichaux paints a portrait of a man who is both fox and lamb, cunningly ruthless and surprisingly genuine. . . . We get to watch a man who plays chess against opponents who merely play checkers. And we get a really good read.  — Ken Auletta

A terrific saga of American enterprise—how lonely wires on windswept hillsides were stretched and spun into the Information Superhighway—as seen through the remarkable career of cable television’s greatest entrepreneur.  — David Von Drehle

Robichaux has provided a smart assessment of the cable industry through the wild narrative of John Malone. . . . and turned it into a tale that manages to be both colorful and informative.  — Walter Isaacson

Cable Cowboy is a first-rate work by a first-rate reporter—excellent, original research on a topic that deserves it.  — Bryan Burrough