Mike Fries

Michael T. Fries grew up in Los Angeles with a front-row seat to the entertainment world. His father, Chuck Fries, was a prolific television producer behind more than 250 films and shows, while his mother, Ava, was also active in the industry. For Mike, Hollywood was not only a backdrop but an early education in the power of media to connect millions of people. Yet it was business, not film, that drew him in. After graduating from Wesleyan University with a degree in economics, he began his career in investment banking, cutting his teeth on complex deals before moving into cable television, the industry where he would ultimately leave his mark.

That path began in 1990, when he became one of the founding executives of UnitedGlobalCom (UGC), a Denver-based cable operator that grew from a small start-up into a multinational force. Mike spearheaded the company’s expansion into Europe, Latin America, and Asia, working closely with industry legends such as John Malone and Gene Schneider. Those early years established his reputation as a builder of global media networks, able to navigate different markets and regulatory landscapes while spotting opportunities for consolidation.

When Liberty Media acquired UGC in 2005 to create Liberty Global, Mike became President and CEO. Today, as Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chairman, he oversees one of the world’s largest broadband and video operators, with interests spanning Virgin Media O2 in the UK, VodafoneZiggo in the Netherlands, Telenet in Belgium, Sunrise in Switzerland, and stakes in ITV, All3Media and TelevisaUnivision.

Mike has built Liberty Global into a company known for bold strategic moves. Under his leadership, the group has consistently rotated its capital, selling, buying, and merging businesses to maximise value. In recent years he has overseen the merger of Virgin Media with O2 in a £31bn deal, sold operations in Germany and Eastern Europe to Vodafone for €18.4bn, and more recently weighed spin-offs of stakes in VodafoneZiggo and Virgin Media O2 to unlock investor returns. He has often stressed that constant evolution of the portfolio is essential because convergence and scale are the keys to long-term growth.

Beyond the boardroom, Mike has earned recognition from the industry he helped shape. He was inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame in 2017 and into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame before that, while Ernst & Young named him Entrepreneur of the Year in Media, Entertainment and Telecommunications. He has also delivered keynotes at the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo and Mobile World Congress, where his voice carries weight on the future of connectivity and media.

His board commitments reflect the breadth of his interests. He sits on the board of Lionsgate, helping guide one of Hollywood’s major studios, and serves on the board of Grupo Televisa. He is also active in industry bodies including CableLabs and the World Economic Forum’s Media, Entertainment and Information Industry community. Academic institutions play a role too: he is a Board Member of Overseers at Columbia Business School, where he supports the next generation of business leaders.

Philanthropy and civic engagement form a parallel thread in Mike’s career. He and his wife, Amber, endowed the Fries Center for Global Studies at Wesleyan University, a hub designed to expand students’ global awareness and language skills. In Denver, where Liberty Global is headquartered, he has been an honorary co-chair of the Biennial of the Americas, an initiative that fosters cultural and political exchange across the Western Hemisphere. He also serves as a trustee of the Paley Center for Media and sits on the board of the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver and the international nonprofit ONE, among other organisations.

Mike often credits his upbringing for grounding him. Growing up in a creative household taught him that media is ultimately about human stories, not just infrastructure. That perspective still informs how he approaches Liberty Global’s mission to connect people and content. He has consistently framed connectivity as fundamental to modern life, with everything else flowing from that foundation.

Three decades into his career, Mike continues to play a pivotal role in shaping the European and Latin American media landscape. For him, the work is not about empire building but about adaptability, finding the next opportunity in a market where technology and consumer behaviour never stand still. That mindset, equal parts operator discipline and deal-maker instinct, has made him one of the most influential figures in global media today.