Liberty Global — Financial Results
Headline Revenue Growth Was Mostly Driven by Acquisitions, Not the Core Business
| Metric | 2025 | 2024 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Revenue | $4,878.5M | $4,341.9M | +12.4% reported |
| Organic Revenue Change | — | — | -1.2% |
| Formula E Acquisition Impact | +$240.8M | — | — |
Total revenue rose 12.4%, but strip out the boost from acquiring Formula E and the new Sunrise service contracts, and the core business actually shrank by 1.2%. Customer losses at both Telenet (Belgium) and VM Ireland, combined with pricing pressure, drove that underlying decline. This is an important distinction — headline growth can look healthy while the base business is quietly losing ground.
Core Profitability (Adjusted EBITDA) Is Holding Steady but Margins Are Slipping
| Segment | 2025 Margin | 2024 Margin |
|---|---|---|
| Telenet | 40.6% | 41.9% |
| VM Ireland | 36.4% | 36.3% |
| VMO2 JV (UK) | 35.0% | 33.0% |
| VodafoneZiggo JV (Netherlands) | 43.8% | 45.7% |
Adjusted EBITDA (a measure of operating cash profitability before interest, taxes, and non-cash items) rose to $1,275.0M from $1,159.8M, but on an organic basis it fell 2.1%. Telenet's margin compression reflects rising IT and personnel costs outpacing revenue. The UK joint venture (VMO2) was a bright spot with improving margins, while the Netherlands joint venture (VodafoneZiggo) is under clear pressure from competition.
A Massive Goodwill Write-Down at the UK Joint Venture Drove a Huge Reported Loss
| 2025 | 2024 | |
|---|---|---|
| Earnings (loss) from continuing operations | -$7,096.7M | +$1,869.1M |
| VMO2 JV goodwill impairment charge | ~$5.0B | — |
Liberty Global swung from a $1.9B profit to a $7.1B loss in 2025, almost entirely because the UK joint venture (VMO2, co-owned with Telefonica) wrote down goodwill (an accounting asset representing the premium paid in past acquisitions) by roughly £3.8 billion ($5.0B). This is a non-cash charge and does not directly affect day-to-day operations or cash flow, but it signals that the business is considered worth less than previously recorded.
Free Cash Flow Turned Negative as Capital Spending Jumped
| 2025 | 2024 | |
|---|---|---|
| Adjusted Free Cash Flow | -$274.0M | +$311.7M |
| Capital Expenditures (cash) | $1,343.1M | $908.5M |
| CapEx as % of Revenue | 27.9% | 24.5% |
Adjusted free cash flow — essentially cash left over after running the business and investing in infrastructure — flipped from positive $312M to negative $274M. The main culprit was a 48% jump in capital spending, driven by network upgrades and expansion. Management expects spending to rise further in 2026, so this cash drain is likely to continue near-term.
No Share Buyback Program Authorized for 2026
During 2025, Liberty Global repurchased $192.1M of its own shares. As of the filing date, the board has not approved any buyback program for 2026. For investors who valued the stock partly on the expectation of ongoing capital returns, this is a notable change in posture — at least for now.
Customer Losses Across Fixed-Line and Mobile Are a Persistent Headwind
Across both Telenet and VM Ireland, the company is losing fixed-line subscribers and seeing mobile revenue decline. At VM Ireland, both the number of customers and the average revenue per customer (ARPU) fell, a double negative. Telenet saw mobile subscriber numbers drop as well. Competition is cited as the core driver, and with no obvious near-term relief, this trend is worth watching as the primary pressure on organic revenue.