Our chairman, Richard Tang, spoke a little about the "The Altnet Goldrush" and the decision not to work lots of different altnets at the moment, during a speech at the LINX 114 event last November.

https://youtu.be/bJ73FMEzIBs

In reply to a post by pluralist:

since the linkup with O2 is 50% owned by Liberty Global and 50% Telefonica. AIUI Branson still does have a significant shareholding. (Under 10%, maybe 5.35%).

Scratches head, gets calculator.

As I recall Granada (in my area) appeared on the scene in the early 60s. Thirty or so years later the cable companies seemed to be dying (dead?) and then the consolidation started. Was Telewest one of the early consolidators? Then Liberty Global came along, eventually buying up Virgin Mobile and slapping the "Virgin Media" sticker on themselves. So don't hold your breath.

There's probably an accurate history on Wikipedia as opposed to my dodgy memory.

John

In reply to a post by Woolwich:

In reply to a post by pluralist:

since the linkup with O2 is 50% owned by Liberty Global and 50% Telefonica. AIUI Branson still does have a significant shareholding. (Under 10%, maybe 5.35%).

Scratches head, gets calculator.

He had 10.7% of the shares in VM after Liberty Global bought it. Then they merged VM with O2 on a 50/50 basis.

The 10.45% stake he had when NTL and Telewest merged and under the Virgin Media moniker in 2006 was reduced to around 6.5% in May 2009 according to this article.

Wikipedia says:
In July 2007, Virgin Group hedged 37% of its stake in Virgin Media for $224m through a collared loan agreement with Credit Suisse, a transaction which enabled it to retain the voting and dividend rights. Virgin Group had the option of buying back the 12.8m Virgin Media shares it had mortgaged after two years, but in May 2009 decided against this. The funds were used at the time by Virgin Group to invest in other areas of its business, such as Virgin Green Fund, which was launched in September 2007, Virgin America and Virgin Mobile India. By December 2009, Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Entertainment Investment Holdings Limited held a minority holding of 21,413,099 Virgin Media common stock, making him the third largest shareholder.

When Liberty swooped in 2013 to buy VM he held 6.6m shares according to this article - worth £202m and paid as £67m in cash in £135m in Liberty shares.

Plus of course the £10m or so he makes per year from the branding.

Is this relevant?

Probably a smidge more than your post 😂 had a bad day or what old boy?

Just a personal opinion.

In reply to a post by dect:

Interesting signature, what is the difference between "Dile up" and "Dial up"?

Did It Load Eventually