Liberty Media focuses on interactive unit, mulls spinoff

DENVER -- Liberty Media Corp. said yesterday it is focusing on the future of its interactive business, hiring a former Oracle Corp. finance chief to head the company and creating a tracking stock for the home shopping network QVC and related assets. It also said it swung to a third-quarter loss due to higher expenses.

Liberty's chairman and chief executive, John C. Malone, said the tracking stock would encompass as much as 85 percent of Liberty's equity assets and could lead to a spinoff.

''This creation of Liberty Interactive clearly signals a desire long-term for ultimate separation," Malone told analysts during a conference call.

If a spinoff occurred, the remaining assets -- including Liberty's 18 percent stake in News Corp. and cable network owner Starz Entertainment Group -- would be grouped in a company called Liberty Capital.

''We continue to explore various things with News Corp. We don't have anything specifically that we want to discuss publicly at this point," Malone said. ''Our goal is basically to maximize the long-term value of our News Corp. holdings on an after-tax basis."

Analyst Matthew Harrigan of Janco Partners said the interactive assets would mesh well and noted that it was a good move given the tax implications stemming from Liberty's purchase of a 57 percent stake in QVC from Comcast Corp. in September 2003.

''This is a gradual path rather than a full-speed locomotive," he said. ''You can't do a full spin right now without having to worry about the IRS a lot."