Liberty Global is to take a controlling interest in Formula E after agreeing to buy a 65% share held by Warner Bros. Discovery.
Formula E is the only FIA sanctioned electric world motor racing championship. Now in its 10th season of all-electric city street racing.
Current teams include Jaguar, Porsche, Maserati, McLaren, Nissan, DS, Mahindra, Andretti, Penske, Envision and ERT. At the recent Monaco E-Prix, Formula E revealed its new car for next season, the Gen3 Evo, which accelerates to 60mph in an incredible 1.82 seconds, around 30% faster than a current Formula 1 car.
The move expands Liberty’s involvement in motorsports. Since 2016, Liberty Media has been the owner of Formula 1 and recent announced plans to acquire motorcycling’s MotoGP.
Mike Fries, CEO, Liberty Global, comments: “We’re excited to take a controlling interest in Formula E, a business we first invested in nearly ten years ago. Formula E has a massive potential for further growth while integrating the most advanced sustainability standards in sports. The investment continues our approach of disciplined capital rotation across our Ventures portfolio and our strategy of making long-term investments in highly attractive businesses.”
Jeff Dodds, CEO, Formula E, added: “First of all I’d like to offer my thanks to Warner Bros. Discovery for the support and guidance they’ve provided Formula E over the past nine years. Liberty Global have a proven track record of building and growing businesses and their investment in us comes at the perfect time as we plan for a period of exponential growth. Having personally known and worked alongside the Liberty leadership team for over a decade, I’m thrilled to be able to further benefit from their expertise and their resources. This is a powerful vindication of the huge potential of our sport.”
Terms of the deal were not revealed, but Liberty Global previously owned 35% of the company.
