John Malone Stepping Down As Director Emeritus At Charter

Five years after John Malone retired from the board of directors at Charter Communications, he is exiting his post as the company’s director emeritus, Deadline has confirmed.

The veteran exec and Liberty Media chairman, who has served on Charter’s board since 2008, cited the same Clayton Act concerns that led Steven A. Miron and Steven O. Newhouse to resign from the Warner Bros Discovery board early this month.

“I stepped away from my director emeritus role at Charter due to the uncertainty around Clayton Act inquiries,” Malone said in a statement, per Cablefax. “I remain heavily invested in Charter via Liberty Broadband — which maintains its three board seats — and am confident in Charter’s leadership team and strategy for the business.”

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His move comes weeks after the Justice Department informed Miron and Newhouse that it was investigating whether their service violated Section 8 of the Clayton Antitrust Act on overlapping boards, specifically involving Charter. The rule prohibits directors and officers from serving simultaneously on the boards of competitors, subject to limited exceptions.

Malone also sits on the Warner Bros Discovery board and will continue to serve as an independent director there. According to a proxy filing with the SEC today, The billionaire media mogul was set to stand for re-election as WBD’s shareholders meeting in June. He was a major player in the company’s merger that finalized two years ago, having been a longtime stakeholder in Discovery.