The Confessions of John Malone, Media’s Most Misunderstood Mogul
In this exclusive excerpt from his new memoir ‘Born to Be Wired,’ the battle-scarred billionaire candidly reflects on his (mostly) friendly rivalries with Reed Hastings, Rupert Murdoch and Ted Turner and how he built a sprawling empire while living with autism.
BY JOHN MALONE
The most valuable assets in any business are people and relationships.
I may have neglected to appreciate this at the time, when we were down in the fray. Now that I am a bit older and slowing down, just a little, I have realized that, all along, the most important element was who was involved, not what. The people whom I befriended, learned from, and fought against — rather than the deals or the payoff — gave me the most satisfaction. And the right people produced the highest upside — giving my journey meaning and enriching my knowledge of the world.
It has been enormously exciting and at the same time gratifying to play a role in the digital revolution. Our original intent was to deliver broadcast TV signals to far-flung rural valleys and mountainous terrain that antennas couldn’t reach. That very same cable evolved into the backbone of the broadband network better known today as the internet, three decades after we at Tele-Communications began laying down lines.