Liberty Media may already be looking to offload at least a portion of their Formula 1 stake, two years after completing their takeover.
That is according to a report published by JohnWallStreet.com on Sunday which was later shared on social media by several publications including Formula Money.
The American group bought F1 from previous commercial rights holder CVC in 2016 for $8bn, removing long-time CEO Bernie Ecclestone in January 2017 with current figurehead Chase Carey.
Since then the company has invested heavily in marketing and modernising the outdated commercial structure while also developing their future vision for the sport through the new Concorde Agreement which could come into effect in 2021.
Talks have been slow though as plans for a budget cap and other measures aimed at increasing the spectacle have faced opposition from F1’s traditional power players, the manufacturers.
Elsewhere, plans for new races are ongoing with Vietnam already confirmed in 2020 while efforts for a street race in Miami continue and potential new Grands Prix in Holland, Finland and now the Philippines are touted.
However, the introduction of a new streaming service, F1TV, has had issues and some of the proposed changes haven’t gone down well with many die-hard fans.
Though the report is unconfirmed at this point, a possible motivation for selling may be that F1 is the only entity on Liberty’s portfolio currently making a loss.
Therefore, that is why the company may want to reduce their overall stake with a partial sale with new investors or sell up completely.
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- Silverstone leads as F1 sees strong crowd growth in 2018
To this writer, it makes no sense to do the latter with the impact of their two years of investment only likely to start reaping rewards when the 2021 Concorde Agreement is signed and possible sponsors and other parties know what they would be investing into.
Also, right now, it’s very hard to see any entity willing to pay near the same price Liberty themselves did back in 2016, so surely to cut and run now would simply be about minimising the financial pain.
Of course, there is one man who might just take a peek, however, a certain B. Ecclestone who has had his power taken away but does remain on the board as chairman emeritus.
We’ll certainly watch this space for any updates.
