Liberty Media Corporation Reports First Quarter 2015 Financial Results

ENGLEWOOD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Liberty Media Corporation ("Liberty Media") (NASDAQ: LMCA, LMCB, LMCK) today reported first quarter 2015 results. Highlights include ⁽¹⁾:

• SiriusXM reported strong first quarter results
  • Subscriber base grew to 27.7 million
  • First quarter revenue increased 8% to $1.08 billion
  • Net income climbed 12% to $106 million
  • Adjusted EBITDA⁽²⁾ jumped 19% to a record $399 million
  • Free cash flow⁽²⁾ reached $276 million, up 24%
• Liberty Media’s ownership of SiriusXM stood at 57.8% as of April 24, 2015
• Sold 1.3 million Viacom shares for $86 million in proceeds, and sold remaining shares of Barnes & Noble, Inc. for $27 million in proceeds; gains efficiently offset by tax loss carry forwards
• Continued progress on the Atlanta Braves’ new stadium in Cobb County; announced partnership with Omni Hotels & Resorts
• From February 1, 2015 through April 30, 2015, repurchased 1.9 million LMCK shares at an average price per share of $38.28 and a total cost of $74 million

“SiriusXM continues to post excellent results across the board. Building on the momentum from 2014, its subscriber base stood at 27.7 million at the end of the first quarter and the company increased subscriber guidance for the year. Jim and his team are doing a great job enhancing the offering and customer experience,” stated Greg Maffei, President and CEO of Liberty Media. “At Liberty, we continued to repurchase our shares with $74 million reported for the period.”

Liberty Media

Liberty Media's revenue increased $70 million to $1.1 billion in the first quarter. Adjusted OIBDA⁽²⁾ increased by $79 million to $373 million and operating income increased $90 million to $245 million. The increases in revenue, adjusted OIBDA and operating income were primarily due to operating results at SiriusXM.

SiriusXM

SiriusXM is a separate publicly traded company and additional information about SiriusXM can be obtained through its website and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. SiriusXM reported its stand-alone first quarter results on April 28, 2015. For presentation purposes in this release, we include below the results of SiriusXM, as reported by SiriusXM, without regard to the purchase accounting adjustments applied by us for purposes of our financial statements. Liberty Media believes the presentation of financial results as reported by SiriusXM is useful to investors as the comparability of those results is best understood in the context of SiriusXM's historical financial presentation. For a reconciliation of revenue, adjusted OIBDA (as defined by Liberty Media) and operating income for SiriusXM's stand-alone operating results as reported by SiriusXM to those results as reported by Liberty Media, see Liberty Media's Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2015.

Highlights of SiriusXM's earnings release included the following:

• First quarter revenue increased 8% to $1.08 billion
• Net Income climbed 12% to $106 million
• Adjusted EBITDA jumped 19% to a record $399 million
• Free cash flow reached $276 million, up 24%

Share Repurchases

Between the reclassification of the original Liberty Capital tracking stock on March 3, 2008 and July 23, 2014, Liberty Media repurchased shares of Series A common stock for aggregate cash consideration of approximately $2.9 billion, representing 51% of shares outstanding⁽³⁾. From February 1, 2015 through April 30, 2015, Liberty Media repurchased approximately 1.9 million shares of Series C common stock at an average cost per share of $38.28 for total cash consideration of $74 million. For the period covering the creation of the Liberty Media Series C common stock on July 23, 2014 through April 30, 2015, Liberty Media repurchased approximately 2.4 million shares of Series C common stock at an average cost per share of $37.57 for total cash consideration of $91 million, representing 0.7% of shares outstanding⁽⁴⁾. The total remaining repurchase authorization for Liberty Media stock is approximately $536 million.

NOTES

Unless otherwise noted, the foregoing discussion compares financial information for the three months ended March 31, 2015 to the same period in 2014.

The following financial information with respect to Liberty Media's equity affiliates and available for sale securities is intended to supplement Liberty Media's condensed consolidated balance sheet and statement of operations to be included in its Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2015.

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Cash and Debt

The following presentation is provided to separately identify cash and liquid investments and debt information.

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Total Liberty Media cash and liquid investments increased $365 million, primarily as a result of cash from operations at SiriusXM during the quarter, proceeds from additional debt borrowings at SiriusXM and proceeds from the sale of shares of Barnes & Noble and Viacom. These sources of cash were partially offset by shares repurchased by SiriusXM, shares repurchased by Liberty Media, capital expenditures and repayment of debt at SiriusXM. Included in the consolidated cash and liquid investments balance at March 31, 2015 is $482 million at SiriusXM. Although SiriusXM is a consolidated subsidiary, it is a separate public company with a significant non-controlling interest, therefore Liberty Media does not have ready access to SiriusXM’s cash balance. Excluding cash held at SiriusXM, Liberty Media's cash and liquid investments balance at March 31, 2015 was $763 million.

Total Liberty Media debt increased by $0.6 billion primarily as a result of long-term debt borrowings at SiriusXM.

Important Notice: Liberty Media Corporation (Nasdaq: LMCA, LMCB, LMCK) President and CEO, Greg Maffei, will discuss Liberty Media's earnings release in a conference call which will begin at 11:30 a.m. (E.D.T.) on May 8, 2015. The call can be accessed by dialing (844) 838-8043 or (678) 509-7480 at least 10 minutes prior to the start time. The call will also be broadcast live across the Internet and archived on our website. To access the webcast go to http://www.libertymedia.com/events. Links to this press release will also be available on the Liberty Media website.

This press release includes certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements about business strategies, market potential, future financial prospects, growth of SiriusXM's subscriber base, the future financial performance of SiriusXM, the continuation of our stock repurchase plan, the repurchase activity of SiriusXM, the construction of the new stadium for the Atlanta Braves and the associated mixed use development and other matters that are not historical facts. These forward-looking statements involve many risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements, including, without limitation, possible changes in market acceptance of new products or services, regulatory matters affecting our businesses, the competitive position of SiriusXM versus other radio and audio entertainment providers, the ability of SiriusXM to attract and retain subscribers, the dependence of SiriusXM upon the auto industry, general economic conditions, the failure of SiriusXM’s satellites (which, in most cases, are not insured), the interruption or failure of SiriusXM’s information and communication systems, the security of personal customer information, royalties SiriusXM pays for music rights (which increase over time), the unfavorable outcome of pending or future litigation, the failure to realize benefits of acquisitions, rapid technological and industry change, failure of third parties to perform, changes in consumer protection laws and their enforcement, continued access to capital on terms acceptable to Liberty Media, changes in law and market conditions conducive to stock repurchases. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this presentation, and Liberty Media expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to disseminate any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statement contained herein to reflect any change in Liberty Media's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based. Please refer to the publicly filed documents of Liberty Media, including the most recent Form 10-K and 10-Q, for additional information about Liberty Media and about the risks and uncertainties related to Liberty Media's business which may affect the statements made in this presentation.

NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES

SCHEDULE 1

This press release includes a presentation of adjusted OIBDA, which is a non-GAAP financial measure, for Liberty Media, together with a reconciliation to operating income, as determined under GAAP. Liberty Media defines adjusted OIBDA as revenue less operating expenses, and selling, general and administrative expenses, excluding all stock based compensation, and excludes from that definition depreciation and amortization, restructuring and impairment charges and separately reported legal settlements that are included in the measurement of operating income pursuant to GAAP.

Liberty Media believes adjusted OIBDA is an important indicator of the operational strength and performance of its businesses, including each business' ability to service debt and fund capital expenditures. In addition, this measure allows management to view operating results and perform analytical comparisons and benchmarking between businesses and identify strategies to improve performance. Because adjusted OIBDA is used as a measure of operating performance, Liberty Media views operating income as the most directly comparable GAAP measure. Adjusted OIBDA is not meant to replace or supersede operating income or any other GAAP measure, but rather to supplement such GAAP measures in order to present investors with the same information that Liberty Media's management considers in assessing the results of operations and performance of its assets. Please see the attached schedules for applicable reconciliations.

The following table provides a reconciliation of adjusted OIBDA for Liberty Media to operating income calculated in accordance with GAAP for the three months ended March 31, 2014, June 30, 2014, September 30, 2014, December 31, 2014 and March 31, 2015, respectively.

SCHEDULE 2

This press release also includes a presentation of Adjusted EBITDA, which is a non-GAAP financial measure used by SiriusXM, together with a reconciliation to SiriusXM's stand-alone net income, as determined under GAAP. SiriusXM defines Adjusted EBITDA as follows: EBITDA is defined as net income before interest and investment income (loss); interest expense, net of amounts capitalized; income tax expense and depreciation and amortization. SiriusXM adjusts EBITDA to exclude the impact of other income and expense, loss on extinguishment of debt, loss on change in value of derivatives as well as certain other charges discussed below. This measure is one of the primary non-GAAP financial measures on which SiriusXM (i) evaluates the performance of its businesses, (ii) bases its internal budgets and (iii) compensates management. Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial performance measure that excludes (if applicable): (i) certain adjustments as a result of the purchase price accounting for the merger of Sirius and XM, (ii) depreciation and amortization and (iii) share-based payment expense. The purchase price accounting adjustments include: (i) the elimination of deferred revenue associated with the investment in XM Canada, (ii) recognition of deferred subscriber revenues not recognized in purchase price accounting, and (iii) elimination of the benefit of deferred credits on executory contracts, which are primarily attributable to third party arrangements with an OEM and programming providers. SiriusXM believes adjusted EBITDA is a useful measure of the underlying trend of SiriusXM's operating performance, which provides useful information about its business apart from the costs associated with its physical plant, capital structure and purchase price accounting. SiriusXM believes investors find this non-GAAP financial measure useful when analyzing its results and comparing its operating performance to the performance of other communications, entertainment and media companies. SiriusXM believes investors use current and projected adjusted EBITDA to estimate its current and prospective enterprise value and to make investment decisions. Because SiriusXM funds and builds-out its satellite radio system through the periodic raising and expenditure of large amounts of capital, its results of operations reflect significant charges for depreciation expense. The exclusion of depreciation and amortization expense is useful given significant variation in depreciation and amortization expense that can result from the potential variations in estimated useful lives, all of which can vary widely across different industries or among companies within the same industry. SiriusXM also believes the exclusion of share-based payment expense is useful given share-based payment expense is not directly related to the operational conditions of the business.

Adjusted EBITDA has certain limitations in that it does not take into account the impact to SiriusXM's statements of comprehensive income of certain expenses, including share-based payment expense and certain purchase price accounting for the merger of Sirius and XM. SiriusXM endeavors to compensate for the limitations of the non-GAAP measure presented by also providing the comparable GAAP measure with equal or greater prominence and descriptions of the reconciling items, including quantifying such items, to derive the non-GAAP measure. Investors that wish to compare and evaluate SiriusXM's operating results after giving effect for these costs, should refer to net income as disclosed in its unaudited consolidated statements of comprehensive income. Since adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial performance measure, SiriusXM's calculation of adjusted EBITDA may be susceptible to varying calculations; may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies; and should not be considered in isolation, as a substitute for, or superior to measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. The reconciliation of SiriusXM's stand-alone net income to adjusted EBITDA is calculated as follows (in thousands):

SCHEDULE 3

SiriusXM's free cash flow derives from cash flow provided by operating activities, capital expenditures and restricted and other investment activity. The calculation for free cash flow is as follows (in thousands).

Liberty Media Corporation
Courtnee Ulrich, 720-875-5420

Source: Liberty Media Corporation

Released May 8, 2015