LOVE STORY - CAPITALISM NOT SO LOVELY FOR LIBERTY MEDIA

CAPITALISM NOT SO LOVELY FOR LIBERTY MEDIA

Liberty Media acknowledged Monday that its decision to bring Michael Moore's Capitalism A Love Story to the screen via its Overture Films studio turned out to be not the best capital investment. In its quarterly report, Liberty noted that its Liberty Capital unit, which runs Overture (oddly, not its Liberty Entertainment unit), posted a 22-percent drop in revenue and cited the Moore documentary as one of two disappointing releases that dragged down its income. (The other was the sci-fi flick Pandorum .) The film, which was released in September, grossed just $13.7 million. Word that Liberty had agreed to back the Moore film originally raised eyebrows since it in effect paired the liberal Moore with the staunchly libertarian John Malone, the head of Liberty. But it was said that the two saw eye-to-eye on most aspects of the financial crisis. (Overture has seen a boost in its current quarter from Law Abiding Citizen and The Men Who Stare at Goats .) Aside from Overture, most of Liberty's other businesses showed a small improvement in the quarter or were flat. Nevertheless, shares in the company fell 6 percent on Monday. Merrill Lynch analyst Jessica Reif Cohen attributed the fall "to investors' expectation of even faster U.S. growth."

10/11/2009