John Malone, among the lesser known and least understood among America's billionaires, is a literal witness to the birth of the internet and the digital age which has followed. He's made more billion-dollar deals than most Americans buy cars in their lifetimes. In this revelatory memoir, with a big assist from former Wall Street Journal writer, Mark Robichaux, Malone takes us inside the breakout moments that took us from the bad old days of AOL dial-up connections to the stringing of high-capacity cable which still forms the backbone of our present digital economy and existence. From the very beginning, Malone was in the thick of this. Malone is candid about his hits and misses. The sale of his company to A&T, while it brought untold riches at first, turned out to be a disastrous mismatch which cratered his personal wealth. Instead of quitting, Malone (who actually is a horseman) got back on his horse and put together deal after deal that has made him a bona fide American legend among the nation's business elite. What's fun and wildly interesting is Malone's telling of his friendships and rivalries with the likes of Ted Turner, Rupert Murdoch and Barry Diller to name a few. Malone expresses a particular fondness for Turner and his audacious derring-do even though on paper Malone the introvert and political libertarian would seem to have nothing in common with the loud and liberal Turner who was once married to the uber progressive Jane Fonda. But Malone says he saw CNN founder Turner as a brilliant businessman who also fired Malone's serious interest in land conservation based on Turner's own extensive holdings and a clear love of wild places. As a result, the acquisitive Malone has used his wealth to stitch together 2.2 million acres, making him the second-largest land owner in the U.S. He says his aim is to preserve the vast majority of those holdings as forever-wild conservation lands. A startling aside: Malone reveals himself as a high-functioning autistic that has left him uneasy among crowds and big events but clearly has allowed him to concentrate on matters that required his business acumen. Malone and his wife, Leslie, have other philanthropic interests, including a Colorado shelter that rehabs abandoned horses and then finds matches for them with appropriate owners. Malone's enemies and frenemies in the business world often described him as Darth Vader ruthless but this book makes you think you wouldn't mind having lunch with John Malone to tap into his huge brain and maybe hear a yarn or two.
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