Born to Be Wired, John Malone
Born to Be Wired, John Malone
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Born to Be Wired
Lessons from a Lifetime Transforming Television, Wiring America for the Internet, and Growing Formula One, Discovery, Sirius XM, and the Atlanta Braves

Author: John Malone

Narrator: Fred Sanders

Unabridged: 14 hr 51 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/02/2025


Synopsis

If you’ve ever streamed a show on HBO Max, seen a Formula One race, hummed a tune on SiriusXM, bought concert tickets via Ticketmaster, or watched an Atlanta Braves game, you’ve crossed paths with John Malone. You just didn’t know it.

John Malone remains a stranger to most people, though millions have been touched by the technologies and content he made possible.

In Born to Be Wired, this legendary “cable cowboy” shares stories from behind the scenes of the most transformative deals in media, entertainment, and technology. He recounts the extraordinary saga of how America was wired—how a single copper strand evolved from a rural TV-antenna service into a high-speed backbone powering the internet and clearing the path for Amazon, Facebook, and Google.

Malone offers an insider’s account of launching television’s first cable networks—including Discovery, TBS, QVC, and BET—and the strategy behind era-defining mergers, from Warner Bros. Discovery to Live Nation Entertainment. His Liberty Media ventures, including Formula One, have delivered long-term returns often compared to Berkshire Hathaway.

More than a business story, this is a personal reflection—from a quiet kid with a mechanic’s curiosity to a media visionary confronting the costs and consequences of disruption in an industry he helped reshape.

Trained at the storied Bell Labs and gifted with a mathematical mind, Malone saw patterns in complexity. Where others saw chaos, he saw systems—and reconfigured companies with the precision of an engineer, unlocking value no one else could see.

Sweeping, revealing, and deeply human, Born to Be Wired offers a rare glimpse into the logic—and the life—behind the screen.

About John Malone

John Malone is chairman of Liberty Media, Liberty Broadband, and Liberty Global. He was chief executive officer of Tele-Communications Inc., the largest cable operator in the US, from 1973 to 1999, when its merger closed with AT&T Corp. He is a TV, internet, and digital pioneer widely recognized for his leadership role in media and telecommunications. A philanthropist in medicine and education, he is today one of the largest landowners in America, with most of it set aside for conservation. Malone is also an avid rancher, land manager, conservationist, hotelier, and horse trader. John Malone was a merit scholar at Yale University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and economics. He later received a master’s degree in industrial management and a PhD in operations research from Johns Hopkins University.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Lawleyenda on September 14, 2025

This is one of my top 5 favorite books that I have read. Firstly, I would like to say I have always been interested in the telecom industry: how we started with Bell Labs and ended up to today. I have heard of the "Cable Cowboy" book, but I never got around to reading it. I knew John Malone's nickna......more

Goodreads review by john murphy on September 13, 2025

Fascinating biography of a pioneer of modern communication. John Malone is not as well-known as many other major media figures, but he has been at the forefront of the expansion of cable and Internet and blending of technology, entertainment, and sports. His biography gives you an understanding of th......more

Goodreads review by Peter on September 13, 2025

Generally great with a few weak points but overall so much better than cable cowboy. A few strange aspects, like how he finishes certain sections by talking about how much he respects someone he brought up. Disrupts the flow of the story. But otherwise very good. Always interesting to read about his......more

Goodreads review by Brian B. Buchfink on September 13, 2025

Best ever This book gives me hope for the future. I've lived in Montana since 1970 and followed Mr. Malone. I worked at KGHL Billings owned by George Hatch also a 9% owner of TCI. I've got my cable on right now sending this on broadband installed by Charter. "Live long and prosper"......more