On July 21, 2004, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services revised its outlook on Liberty Media Corp. to negative from stable based on the company's announcement that it will use a combination of assets and $545 million of cash to buy back 120.3 million Liberty class A shares (valued at about $1 billion) issued to Comcast Corp. in the acquisition of QVC Inc. in late 2003. The 'BBB-' rating was affirmed. Separately, the Magness family still owns a significant stake, last reported to be about 105 million A shares, totaling about $900 million at current prices. The share repurchase follows the second quarter contribution of $550 million in cash and assets to Liberty Media International Inc. (LMI) prior to its split
