The Liberty Media Organization has appointed Derek Chang to serve as its president and chief executive officer beginning on Feb. 1, 2025. Chang has worked in operations, corporate development and investing for various companies, some of which include EverPass Media, the National Basketball Association, DirecTV and Scripps Network Interactive. Furthermore, he has served as a director at Liberty Media since March 2021, gaining a comprehensive understanding of how the business operates. This move comes after the departure of Greg Maffei, who revealed that he was stepping down from the job at the end of last year after working in the role for nearly two decades.
John Malone, the chairman of Liberty Media, will serve as the interim chief executive officer until Chang officially commences his role. Furthermore, Chang will step down from his role as executive chairman of EverPass Media, the company he co-founded with Alex Kaplan in partnership with the National Football League and RedBird Capital Partners. Chang will remain on the board of the company while moving to Liberty Media and joining the executive committee of its company board.
“I am thrilled to welcome Derek as the CEO of Liberty Media. His expertise in both operating and investment roles, extensive understanding of our industries and familiarity with Liberty make him the ideal leader for Liberty’s next chapter,” Malone said in a statement. “Personally, I have worked with Derek for over 25 years and am consistently impressed by his leadership style, breadth of expertise and global perspective. I look forward to supporting him and the Liberty management team as they continue to drive shareholder value.”
Liberty Media owns various assets in the world of sports, one of which is the burgeoning Formula One Racing property. The international motor racing competition, however, is nearing the expiration of its media rights deal with The Walt Disney Company, a three-year pact for which the latter reportedly pays about $85 million per year. According to a report from the Financial Times filed in late November, Formula One and Disney-owned ESPN have discussed another media rights deal that could be finalized this year; however, the racing entity is reportedly looking for “a significant increase in the next cycle.” U.S. viewership for Formula One racing was down 3% year-over-year, averaging 1.13 million viewers on ESPN platforms.
“I have had the privilege of working with John Malone and the Liberty team for many years during my time at TCI and DIRECTV and later as a board member of Starz and Liberty, and I have long admired their track record of value creation for investors and partners,” Chang said in a statement.
“Our current focus is clear: optimizing the portfolio structure with the split-off of Liberty Live and supporting the growth of our attractive operating assets, including F1 and MotoGP post-acquisition, to continue their momentum and invest for the future. Looking further, Liberty has always been long-term minded in its investment mandate yet nimble to move quickly on new opportunities. Both of these things will remain true in our strategy going forward.”
Liberty Media and Liberty Sirius XM completed a split-off last September in which the satellite radio provider became an independent public company. To accomplish this split off, Liberty Media redeemed outstanding shares of its Series A, Series B and Series C common stock in Liberty SiriusXM in exchange for 0.8375 shares of common stock in “New Sirius.” The previous iteration of Sirius became a wholly owned subsidiary of the new company and common stock shares were converted into one-tenth share of New Sirius common stock. The “New Sirius” company was subsequently renamed “Sirius XM Holdings Inc.” and continues to air audio programming spanning multiple formats.
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