After F1, the MotoGP world championship. Liberty Media expands its dominion over the world of motor sports, from four to two wheels, which thus speak more and more American.
The news of the purchase from Dorna Sports - for a sum of around four billion euros - of the rights to the GPs of the MotoGP, WorldSBK and MotoE world championships would now only require official confirmation, expected in the next few days, probably before the United States GP in program on April 12th.
According to what the Financial Times anticipates, the positive conclusion of the negotiation is in the home stretch, after reaching a general agreement between the parties. Which could only get stuck in the controls of the European Antitrust Authority. Epilogue of a negotiation - underlines the British newspaper - which began over a year ago, when the US fund headed by telecommunications billionaire John Malone set its sights on Dorna, the Spanish company chaired by Carmelo Ezpeleta which holds the image rights of the world championship and Superbike.
Hence the approach to the two majority shareholders, Bridgepoint, a private equity company that controls 40% of Dorna, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, the Canadian pension fund, which has held 39% since 2012. "There is a lot of attention and this is certainly a good thing. Formula 1 is doing very well, MotoGP as well. So let's see" commented Claudio Domenicali, CEO of Ducati. The acceleration of Liberty Media would therefore have anticipated other suitors, such as Ari Emanuel's entertainment giant TKO and Qatar Sports Investments, managing to bring together the two most important motorsport series in the world under the same ownership. In recent months, news of Liberty's negotiation with Bridgepoint had leaked, with question marks linked to a possible monopoly situation at European Union level. As happened in the past, when the private equity firm, CVC Capital Partners found itself owning both F1 and MotoGP, being forced in 2006 to sell the MotoGP after the EU competition regulators had raised doubts about the operation. Then, in 2017, CVC also sold F1 to Liberty for a sum of 8 billion dollars. According to some experts, the history of F1 and MotoGP and the size of a potential combined group may lead to competition investigations, both in countries such as the United Kingdom and Germany and at a wider European level. In this sense, the antitrust green light will be fundamental, especially in the field of TV and broadcasting rights.
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