Investors have been taking their liberties with Liberty Media (NYSE:L) since the July spinoff of the company's interest in what is now Discovery Holding (NASDAQ:DISCA). Since the move, the stock has drifted down by almost 10%, further widening the gap between the share price and what many perceive to be the core intrinsic value.

Looking first at operations, we see that business looked pretty reasonable for the quarter. Revenue rose 13% as strength at QVC offset flat performance at Starz Entertainment Group (SEG). Operating income rose 18%, though movements in the company's derivatives positions and the absence of a year-ago gain led to a net loss for the quarter versus last year's profit. On a cash flow basis, though, Liberty experienced 11% growth in operating cash flow for the quarter, and year-to-date free cash flow has been pretty strong.

I could go on about the operations at Liberty, but there are bigger fish to fry. First, the company has hired a new CEO -- Greg Maffei, recently the CFO at Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL). Obviously not a media guy by background, Maffei was previously the CEO at 360networks (which went bankrupt) and CFO at Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT).

In what I think could prove to be even bigger news, the company is looking at creating a tracking stock for the Liberty Interactive assets of QVC and the company's holdings in IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ:IACI) and Expedia (NASDAQ:EXPE). This new stock apparently would not carry much debt and would represent perhaps 70%-85% of Liberty's present equity value.

Tracking stocks are relative oddities these days, but it might help unlock some value here. The complexity of Liberty's corporate structure and operations has been a stumbling block for many investors, and I imagine that's part of the reason that the stock trades at what seems to be a pretty meaningful discount to the value of its assets. Perhaps by creating a "cleaner" play on some of the faster-growing assets within Liberty, management will finally get around this issue.

Tracking stock or no, this is the sort of play that could easily test the patience of value hounds. Sure, the company's stakes in News Corp. (NYSE:NWS), Sprint, and so on have value, as do the operations of QVC and SEG. What remains to be seen, though, is how much of that value the Street is willing to recognize.

For more libertine Foolishness:

Discovery Holding is a Motley Fool Inside Value recommendation.

Fool contributor Stephen Simpson has no financial interest in any stocks mentioned (that means he's neither long nor short the shares).