Top motorsport championships, Formula 1 and MotoGP, will both be owned by John Malone’s Liberty Media by the end of the year.
Liberty Media bought F1 from CVC Capital Partners in 2017 and is now in the process of taking over motorbikes premier series, MotoGP.
Liberty Media will acquire approximately 86 per cent of Dorna, with Dorna management retaining approximately 14 per cent of their equity.
Carmelo Ezpeleta, CEO of Dorna since 1994, will continue to run the business which is headquartered in Madrid.
“We are thrilled to expand our portfolio of leading live sports and entertainment assets with the acquisition of MotoGP,” said Greg Maffei, Liberty Media President and CEO. “MotoGP is a global league with a loyal, enthusiastic fan base, captivating racing and a highly cash flow generative financial profile. Carmelo and his management team have built a great sporting spectacle that we can expand to a wider global audience. The business has significant upside, and we intend to grow the sport for MotoGP fans, teams, commercial partners and our shareholders.”
On the subsequent media round, Maffei quashed rumours that MotoGP and Formula 1 might come together for a single event. “The only thing we are not going to do is run MotoGP and Formula 1 together, both for regulatory issues and for the structure of our agreement with F1 partners and teams, he said.
In an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, 78 year-old Ezpeleta said that while Moto GP needed the expertise of its news owners, the sport would continue to have its own people independent of Liberty.
