Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Tracking Stocks

v3.22.4
Tracking Stocks
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2022
Tracking Stocks

(2)  Tracking Stocks

During November 2015, Liberty’s board of directors (the “Board of Directors”) authorized management to pursue a reclassification of the Company’s common stock into three new tracking stock groups, one to be designated as the Liberty Braves common stock, one to be designated as the Liberty Formula One common stock (formerly known as Liberty Media common stock) and one to be designated as the Liberty SiriusXM common stock (the “Recapitalization”), and to cause to be distributed subscription rights related to the Liberty Braves common stock following the creation of the new tracking stocks.

A tracking stock is a type of common stock that the issuing company intends to reflect or “track” the economic performance of a particular business or “group,” rather than the economic performance of the company as a whole. While the Liberty SiriusXM Group, Liberty Braves Group (the “Braves Group”) and the Liberty Formula One Group (the “Formula One Group”) have separate collections of businesses, assets and liabilities attributed to them, no group is a separate legal entity and therefore cannot own assets, issue securities or enter into legally binding agreements. Therefore, the Liberty SiriusXM Group, Braves Group and Formula One Group do not represent separate legal entities, but rather represent those businesses, assets and liabilities that have been attributed to each respective group. Holders of tracking stock have no direct claim to the group’s stock or assets and therefore, do not own, by virtue of their ownership of a Liberty tracking stock, any equity or voting interest in a public company, such as Sirius XM Holdings or Live Nation, in which Liberty holds an interest that is attributed to a Liberty tracking stock group, such as the Liberty SiriusXM Group. Holders of tracking stock are also not represented by separate boards of directors. Instead, holders of tracking stock are stockholders of the parent corporation, with a single board of directors and subject to all of the risks and liabilities of the parent corporation.

Additionally, as a result of the Recapitalization, Liberty’s 1.375% Cash Convertible Senior Notes due 2023 (the “Convertible Notes”) are convertible into cash based on the product of the conversion rate specified in the indenture and the basket of tracking stocks into which each outstanding share of Series A Liberty Media Corporation common stock was reclassified (the “Securities Basket”). Furthermore, the Company entered into amended agreements with the counterparties with regard the Recapitalization-related adjustments to the outstanding Series A Liberty Media Corporation common stock warrants as well as the outstanding cash convertible note hedges and purchased call options.

As part of the Recapitalization, the Formula One Group initially held a 20% intergroup interest in the Braves Group. As a result of a rights offering in May 2016 to holders of Liberty Braves common stock to acquire shares of Series C Liberty Braves common stock, the number of notional shares representing the intergroup interest held by the Formula One Group was adjusted to 9,084,940, representing a 15.1% intergroup interest in the Braves Group at December 31, 2019. In addition, during the fourth quarter of 2019, the Formula One Group began purchasing shares of Liberty SiriusXM common stock. As of December 31, 2019, the number of notional shares representing the intergroup interest held by the Formula One Group was 493,278, representing a 0.2% intergroup interest in the Liberty SiriusXM Group.

On April 22, 2020, the Board of Directors approved the immediate reattribution of certain assets and liabilities between the Formula One Group and the Liberty SiriusXM Group (collectively, the “reattribution”).

The assets reattributed from the Formula One Group to the Liberty SiriusXM Group, valued at $2.8 billion, consisted of:

Liberty’s entire Live Nation stake, consisting of approximately 69.6 million shares of Live Nation common stock;
a newly-created Formula One Group intergroup interest, consisting of approximately 5.3 million notional shares of Liberty Formula One common stock, to cover exposure under the Convertible Notes;
the bond hedge and warrants associated with the Convertible Notes;
the entire Liberty SiriusXM Group intergroup interest, consisting of approximately 1.9 million notional shares of Liberty SiriusXM common stock, thereby eliminating the Liberty SiriusXM Group intergroup interest; and
a portion, consisting of approximately 2.3 million notional shares of Liberty Braves common stock, of the Formula One Group’s intergroup interest in the Braves Group, to cover exposure under the Convertible Notes.

The reattributed liabilities, valued at $1.3 billion, consisted of:

the Convertible Notes;
Liberty’s 2.25% exchangeable senior debentures due 2048; and
Liberty’s margin loan secured by shares of Live Nation (“Live Nation Margin Loan”).  

Similarly, $1.5 billion of net asset value has been reattributed from the Liberty SiriusXM Group to the Formula One Group, comprised of:

a call spread between the Formula One Group and the Liberty SiriusXM Group with respect to 34.8 million of the Live Nation shares that were reattributed to the Liberty SiriusXM Group; and
a net cash payment of $1.4 billion from the Liberty SiriusXM Group to the Formula One Group, which was funded by a combination of (x) cash on hand, (y) an additional $400 million drawn from the Company’s existing margin loan secured by shares of common stock of Sirius XM Holdings, and (z) the creation of an intergroup loan obligation from the Liberty SiriusXM Group to the Formula One Group in the principal amount of $750 million, plus interest thereon, which was repaid with the proceeds from the LSXMK rights offering described below (the “Intergroup Loan”).

The reattribution is reflected in the Company’s financial statements on a prospective basis.

The Liberty SiriusXM common stock is intended to track and reflect the separate economic performance of the businesses, assets and liabilities attributed to the Liberty SiriusXM Group, which, as of December 31, 2022, include its interests in Sirius XM Holdings and Live Nation, corporate cash, the Convertible Notes and related financial instruments, Liberty’s 2.125% Exchangeable Senior Debentures due 2048, Liberty’s 2.75% Exchangeable Senior Debentures due 2049, Liberty’s 0.5% Exchangeable Senior Debentures due 2050 and margin loan obligations incurred by wholly-owned special purpose subsidiaries of Liberty. The Liberty SiriusXM Group retains intergroup interests in the Braves Group and the Formula One Group as of December 31, 2022. As of December 31, 2022, the Liberty SiriusXM Group has cash and cash equivalents of approximately $362 million, which includes $57 million of subsidiary cash.

The Liberty Braves common stock is intended to track and reflect the separate economic performance of the businesses, assets and liabilities attributed to the Braves Group, which, as of December 31, 2022, include its subsidiary, Braves Holdings, which indirectly owns the Atlanta Braves Major League Baseball Club (“ANLBC” or the “Braves”), certain assets and liabilities associated with the Braves’ stadium (“Truist Park” or the “Stadium”) and a mixed-use development around Truist Park that features retail, office, hotel and entertainment opportunities (the “Mixed-Use Development”) and cash. The Liberty SiriusXM Group and the Formula One Group retain intergroup interests in the

Braves Group as of December 31, 2022. As of December 31, 2022, the Braves Group has cash and cash equivalents of approximately $151 million, which includes $81 million of subsidiary cash.

The Liberty Formula One common stock is intended to track and reflect the separate economic performance of the businesses, assets and liabilities attributed to the Formula One Group, which, as of December 31, 2022, include all of the businesses, assets and liabilities of Liberty other than those specifically attributed to the Braves Group or the Liberty SiriusXM Group, including Liberty’s interest in Formula 1, cash, an intergroup interest in the Braves Group, Liberty’s 1% Cash Convertible Notes due 2023 and Liberty’s 2.25% Convertible Senior Notes due 2027. As of December 31, 2022, the Formula One Group has cash and cash equivalents of approximately $1,733 million, which includes $752 million of subsidiary cash.

During September 2022, the Formula One Group and the Braves Group paid approximately $64 million and $14 million, respectively, to the Liberty SiriusXM Group to settle a portion of the intergroup interests in the Formula One Group and Braves Group held by the Liberty SiriusXM Group, as a result of the repurchase of a portion of the Convertible Notes, as described in note 9. The number of notional shares representing the intergroup interest in the Braves Group held by the Formula One Group is 6,792,903, representing an 11.0% intergroup interest at December 31, 2022. The number of notional shares representing the intergroup interest in the Braves Group held by the Liberty SiriusXM Group is 1,811,066, representing a 2.9% intergroup interest at December 31, 2022. The number of notional shares representing the intergroup interest in the Formula One Group held by the Liberty SiriusXM Group is 4,165,288, representing a 1.7% intergroup interest at December 31, 2022. The intergroup interests represent quasi-equity interests that are not represented by outstanding shares of common stock; rather, the Formula One Group and Liberty SiriusXM Group have attributed interests in the Braves Group, which are generally stated in terms of a number of shares of Liberty Braves common stock, and the Liberty SiriusXM Group also has an attributed interest in the Formula One Group, which is generally stated in terms of a number of shares of Liberty Formula One common stock. The intergroup interests may be settled, at the discretion of the Board of Directors, through the transfer of newly issued shares of Liberty Braves common stock and Liberty Formula One common stock, respectively, cash and/or other assets to the respective tracking stock group. Accordingly, the Braves Group intergroup interests attributable to the Formula One Group and the Liberty SiriusXM Group are presented as assets of the Formula One Group and Liberty SiriusXM Group, respectively, and are presented as liabilities of the Braves Group. Similarly, the Formula One Group intergroup interest attributable to the Liberty SiriusXM Group is presented as an asset of the Liberty SiriusXM Group and is presented as a liability of the Formula One Group. The offsetting amounts between tracking stock groups are eliminated in consolidation. The intergroup interests will remain outstanding until the redemption of the outstanding interests, at the discretion of the Board of Directors, through a transfer of securities, cash and/or other assets from the Braves Group or Formula One Group to the respective tracking stock group.

On April 22, 2020, the Board of Directors authorized management of the Company to cause subscription rights (the “Series C Liberty SiriusXM Rights”) to purchase shares of Series C Liberty SiriusXM common stock, par value $0.01 per share (“LSXMK”), in a rights offering (the “LSXMK rights offering”) to be distributed to holders of Series A Liberty SiriusXM common stock, par value $0.01 per share, Series B Liberty SiriusXM common stock, par value $0.01 per share, and LSXMK. In the LSXMK rights offering, Liberty distributed 0.0939 of a Series C Liberty SiriusXM Right for each share of Series A, Series B or Series C Liberty SiriusXM common stock held as of 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on May 13, 2020. Fractional Series C Liberty SiriusXM Rights were rounded up to the nearest whole right. Each whole Series C Liberty SiriusXM Right entitled the holder to purchase, pursuant to the basic subscription privilege, one share of LSXMK at a subscription price of $25.47, which was equal to an approximate 20% discount to the volume weighted average trading price of LSXMK for the 3-day trading period ending on and including May 8, 2020. Each Series C Liberty SiriusXM Right also entitled the holder to subscribe for additional shares of LSXMK that were unsubscribed for in the LSXMK rights offering pursuant to an oversubscription privilege. The LSXMK rights offering commenced on May 18, 2020, which was also the ex-dividend date for the distribution of the Series C Liberty SiriusXM Rights. The LSXMK rights offering expired at 5:00 p.m. New York City time, on June 5, 2020 and was fully subscribed with 29,594,089 shares of LSXMK issued to those rightsholders exercising basic and, if applicable, oversubscription privileges. The proceeds from the LSXMK rights

offering, which aggregated approximately $754 million, were used to repay the outstanding balance on the Intergroup Loan and accrued interest. 

During November 2022, the Board of Directors authorized management of the Company to pursue a plan to redeem each outstanding share of its Liberty Braves common stock in exchange for one share of the corresponding series of common stock of a newly formed entity, Atlanta Braves Holdings, Inc. (the “Split-Off”). Atlanta Braves Holdings, Inc. will be comprised of the businesses, assets and liabilities attributed to the Braves Group. The intergroup interests in the Braves Group attributed to the Liberty SiriusXM Group and Formula One Group remaining immediately prior to the Split-Off, however, will be settled and extinguished in connection with the Split-Off.

Following the Split-Off, the Company intends to reclassify its then-outstanding shares of common stock into three new tracking stocks to be designated Liberty SiriusXM common stock, Liberty Formula One common stock and Liberty Live common stock, and, in connection therewith, provide for the attribution of the businesses, assets and liabilities of the Company’s remaining tracking stock groups among its newly created Liberty SiriusXM Group, Formula One Group and Liberty Live Group (the “Reclassification”).

The Split-Off and the Reclassification will be subject to various conditions. Both transactions will be conditioned on, among other things, certain requisite approvals of the holders of the Company’s common stock and the receipt of opinions of tax counsel. In addition, the Split-Off will be conditioned on the requisite approval of Major League Baseball (“MLB”) and the receipt of an IRS ruling. In addition, the Reclassification is dependent and conditioned on the approval and completion of the Split-Off, and will not be implemented unless the Split-Off is completed; however, the Split-Off is not dependent upon the approval of the Reclassification and may be implemented even if the Reclassification is not approved. Each of the Split-Off and the Reclassification is intended to be tax-free to stockholders of the Company. Subject to the satisfaction of the conditions, the Company expects to complete the Split-Off and the Reclassification in the first half of 2023.

See Exhibit 99.1 to this Annual Report on Form 10-K for unaudited attributed financial information for Liberty’s tracking stock groups.