Liberty Media Corporation and
Delta Topco, the parent company of Formula 1 have announced that Liberty Media
has completed its acquisition of F1, the iconic global motorsports business,
from a consortium of sellers.
Post acquisition, F1 has appointed Chase Carey as Chief Executive Officer of F1, in addition to his existing role as Chairman, and Bernie Ecclestone as Chairman Emeritus of F1. Bernie Ecclestone, who has given valuable service to F1 over many years, will be available as a source of advice for the board of F1, said a press release.
Meanwhile, Chase Carey, the new Chairman and CEO of Formula 1, announced the appointments in newly created roles of Ross Brawn as Managing Director, Motor Sports, and Sean Bratches as Managing Director, Commercial Operations. These appointments are effective immediately in conjunction with the completion of Liberty Media's acquisition of Formula 1.
Ross Brawn is one of the most successful and innovative Technical Directors in Formula 1 history. A Formula 1 legend with a 40 year engineering and management career in motor racing, he has won 22 World FIA Championships and the Le Mans 24 Hours. His honours include 11 world titles with Ferrari and seven as part of Williams and Benetton. He went on to win the 2009 F1 World Drivers and Constructors' Championships with his own BrawnGP team, the Honda F1 team he rescued and renamed. Ross sold the team to Mercedes-Benz in 2010 and, over three years, laid the foundation that enabled the team to win the 2014, 2015 and 2016 World Titles.
Sean Bratches is credited as one of ESPN's most influential leaders, with over 27 years of experience, most recently as Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing.
On his group’s acquisition of F1, Greg Maffei, President and CEO of Liberty Media Corporation, commented, "We are delighted to have completed the acquisition of F1 and that Chase will lead this business as CEO. There is an enormous opportunity to grow the sport, and we have every confidence that Chase, with his abilities and experience, is the right person to achieve this. I'd like to thank Bernie Ecclestone, who becomes Chairman Emeritus, for his tremendous success in building this remarkable global sport."
The consideration for Liberty Media's acquisition of 100% of the shares of F1 was comprised of cash and newly issued Series C shares of the Liberty Media Group tracking stock and a debt instrument exchangeable into shares of LMCK. The transaction price represents an enterprise value for F1 of $8.0 billion and an equity value of $4.4 billion.
With the completion of the acquisition, the Liberty Media Group will shortly be renamed the Formula One Group and the ticker symbols for the Series A, Series B and Series C Liberty Media Group tracking stocks will be changed from LMC (A/B/K), respectively, to FWON (A/B/K), respectively, soon after the group name change has become effective. Liberty Media expects the group name change and the symbol change to occur within a week. F1 will remain based in London and Greg Maffei will be Deputy Chair of the board of F1.