Mike Fries, CEO and Vice Chairman of Liberty Global

In this episode of Talks at GS, Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries discusses the impact of the pandemic on global connectivity, the acceleration of digitalization and the future of the company’s global broadband network. 

On lessons from the pandemic: “What we’ve learned is what everybody in this sector has learned -- that we are, obviously, an essential service. We always felt we were essential. But it’s really been, I think, a very positive relationship that we’re building with our customers, our communities, [and] regulators. Taking care of customers. More speed. More data. More content. Whatever it takes.”

On the acceleration of digitalization: “We’ve been forced to really kick [our digital initiatives] into high gear... So, all the key metrics, whether it’s online sales, digital customer interactions, self-installs, are all up materially in almost every market. So, I think the industry as a whole has got a good kick in the pants in this space.”

This episode was filmed as part of the 2020 Goldman Sachs Research Communacopia Conference.