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Formula 1 Might Be Purchased By Liberty Media, Reports Claim

Formula 1, the most expensive and prestigious branch of motorsport, might have a new company that controls its majority stake.
RenaultSport's F1 car on Monaco track in 2016 18 photos
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The change in ownership would also include a listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York. According to Sky News, the company that is most interested in acquiring F1 is named Liberty Media Corporation, which is controlled by American media tycoon John Malone.

The report suggests that Liberty Media Group, which is listed on the NASDAQ New York Stock Exchange, would absorb Formula 1 into its listing.

However, the deal is not confirmed by any of the parties involved in the reported negotiations. Instead, rumors say that CVC Capital Partners, the current controlling shareholders of Formula 1, are in talks with the Liberty Media Corporation.

Meanwhile, CVC Partners only have a 35% stake in Formula 1, which would mean that Liberty Media Corporation might have to make a takeover in multiple phases that would include other acquisition. The same sources claim that the deal would involve a payment of $8.5 billion to obtain control of the top branch of motorsport.

The other side of this deal is claimed to come from Liberty Global, a company that is also owned by the American business person John Malone, and that is reportedly in talks with Discovery Communications. The two deals would then have to be approved by an international governing body, if the parties involved agree to the terms of the acquisition.

Even with new majority stakeholders, Mr. Bernie Ecclestone, the 85-year-old chief executive of the corporation that controls the championship, would still be at the head of the business.

Last year, Mr. Ecclestone suggested that there were three parties interested in buying, but those people would still have to make a deal with the shareholders.

Motorsport notes that Ecclestone has stated that he does not want to sell his share, and that Donald Mackenzie, the Chairman of CVC Capital Partners, the controlling shareholder of Formula 1, is also not interested in selling. As Bernie Ecclestone concluded, the deal would “become difficult if someone wants to buy and someone does not want to sell.”
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About the author: Sebastian Toma
Sebastian Toma profile photo

Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland.
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