Liberty Media announced on Wednesday that it would complete a deal to takeover Formula 1 from a "consortium of sellers led by CVC" – the sport's current majority owner – which would give it a majority stake and therefore control of the sport.
Some have praised the deal as it breaks ties with current owner CVC which, despite having owned the sport since 2006, has done very little to increase Formula 1's appeal, instead choosing to suck as much profit out of it as possible, which is of course the aim of an investment fund.
Now Liberty Media, a company which has stakes in sports teams and media companies, has come along with the promise of investing in the sport to grow its fan base, whilst also growing its digital offering.
But F1 hasn't cut ties with CVC completely, as documents reveal that not only will the fund retain a large stake in the sport, but a "CVC representative will be joining the Liberty Media Board of Directors".
When the deal is complete, Liberty Media will go from owning nothing to acquiring a controlling 35.3 per cen stake. Some of that will come from CVC and some from other minority investors.
The full breakdown before and after deal:
Liberty Media: 0% to 35.3%
CVC: 38.1% to 24.7%
Waddell & Reed: 20.5% to 13.3%
LB I Group (Lehman): 12.1% to 7.8%
Bambino Holdings: 8.4% to 5.4%
Norges: 4.1% to 2.7%
Bernie Ecclestone 3.3% to 2.1%
Management: 2.8% to 1.8%
Other: 10.6% to 6.9% (Includes 1% owned by FIA and Ferrari SpA).
As the figures show, CVC will continue to own almost a quarter of the sport whilst having influence on the sport's board of directors.
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