Malone Buys 7.28 Million More Shares of TCI

Tele-Communications Inc. Chairman John Malone borrowed money from NationsBank of Texas to buy 7.28 million shares of TCI from Knight-Ridder Inc.

In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Malone said he bought the shares from Knight-Ridder for $110.07 million, or $15.11 a share. To acquire the funds needed for the purchase, he pledged as collateral 11.5 million TCI Class B common shares and 3.08 million Class B shares of Liberty Media Group, the cable company’s programming unit.

Englewood, Colo.-based Tele-Communications last week disclosed a complex series of stock swaps that completed its acquisition of Kearns-Tribune Corp. and boosted Malone’s voting stake to about 25% from about 20%.

Malone’s voting stake could rise to 37.4% if shares held by his wife, Leslie, are included, and if he also chose to exercise all existing options and stock appreciation rights and acquire 30.5 million shares, formerly held by the estate of former TCI Chairman Bob Magness, that he holds first rights to until June 30, 1999, the filing said.