Liberty Media wins $950 million

[HMFFL]

A federal jury on Monday awarded $956 million to U.S. media group Liberty Media after concluding that the French entertainment group Vivendi deceived it in a decade-old deal involving the USA Networks.

The jury in U.S. District Court in Manhattan issued the award after hearing evidence related to a stock swap involving the network. Liberty Media had accused Vivendi of deceiving it with rosy statements about its finances when executives inside the company were aware of a liquidity crisis.

After the verdict was announced, Vivendi said in a statement it will appeal, using "all available paths of action to overturn the verdict or reduce the damages award." It added that it believes "strongly that it did nothing wrong and will continue to vigorously defend itself."

Liberty Media, in a statement of its own, said it planned to seek interest.

The verdict stemmed from a lawsuit Liberty Media brought in 2003, accusing Vivendi of waiting until its transaction with USA Networks and Liberty Media officially closed before reacting publicly to a downgrade of its debt rating and addressing surrounding concerns about liquidity.

During closing arguments, Liberty Media attorney Michael Calhoon urged jurors to "look at these internal memos, inside the company, talking about what was really going on inside the company when the company was saying to the public and to Liberty something totally different."

He referenced the stock swap surrounding the transaction, saying: "We took the risk of the price falling. We didn't take the risk of fraud." http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/ny ... 64400.html

[Nemesis21]

Can this have a positive effect on the Braves and their payroll or will Liberty Media continue to be cheap?

[ohara]

Can this have a positive effect on the Braves and their payroll or will Liberty Media continue to be cheap?

You would like to think so. But my fear is they just pocket the money for the shareholders.

[bstrassburg]

This will not affect the Braves at all. They will continue operating the Braves at near the break-even point like they have done.