Reports about potential bids to buy or take control of the Formula One Group come and go fairly often. In 2011 Rupert Murdoch was rumoured to have looked at the idea and a potential stock market flotation is still on the cards, albeit in the distant future now.
Some are taken seriously, others aren’t. The latest rumour however should be taken with some credibility due to the billionaire’s background and recent acquisitions.
John Malone’s Liberty Media and Discovery Communications has reportedly approached F1’s current owner, CVC Capital Partners, about purchasing its 35 per cent stake and 100 per cent voting rights’ as well as LBI Group Inc’s 12.3 per cent stake – which has to be offloaded by June – to give it control of the sport.
Malone, through Liberty Media, recently purchased the UK’s second-largest pay-TV company, Virgin Media, and has been expanding his broadcasting presence across Europe with further acquisitions which include Telenet, Eurosport and stakes in several others to give Liberty a presence in 12 European countries as well as becoming the world’s largest broadband provider.
Taking control of a European focussed sport such as F1 would give Malone greater broadcasting power and it would allow him to further exploit the broadcasting rights.
The American businessman is also Murdoch’s main competitor, so to take control of F1 would give him the power to take the sport away from Murdoch’s BSkyB in the UK and move it to Virgin Media.
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