By increasing his voting shares it is believed that Malone, who would also have greater control of News Corp, would encourage Murdoch to buy shares in Liberty-owned organisations like Discovery Communications, which is co-owned by Liberty and Cox Communications.
In April this year, Malone held talks with News Corp chairman Murdoch about possibly buying some of News Corporation's television business, which includes the National Geographic and FX channels. With a greater controlling stake in News Corp, Malone is likely to to renew his intentions.
Murdoch said he was relaxed about the Liberty move, which he described as a compliment to his company. "I'm not losing any sleep over it," he said.
Liberty currently owns 17% of News Corp's non-voting shares and 9.2% of voting shares. This is set to increase to 17.15% by next April if the swap deal with Merrill Lynch goes through smoothly.
Malone secured the deal with Merrill Lynch International in which the broker bought 8% of the voting shares and gave Liberty the right to buy them next year.
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