Liberty Media to Sell $825m F1 Shares For MotoGP Acquisition

Liberty Media will acquire 86% of Dorna Sports by the end of 2024, with Dorna management retaining the other 14% in a deal worth 4.2 billion Euros.

Liberty Media are the current owners of Formula 1 but are selling over $825m of those shares to help fund the acquisition of MotoGP. Liberty Media’s impact on Formula 1 has been clear for all to see, with the hit-series Drive to Survive bringing new fans to the sport globally.

The intention will be to do the same for MotoGP, who will hope to benefit from the same type of success. Liberty Media has made F1 popular in the United States, something it struggled with for decades, while the overall viewing number has risen exponentially.

Liberty Media had stiff competition to acquire MotoGP as they beat off competition from Qatar Sports Investments, who are involved with French Football team Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and TKO which owns UFC (Ultimate fighting Championship) and the WWE (World Wrestling Federation) when it agreed the takeover in April.

To ‘partially fund’ its official acquisition of MotoGP, selling shares in F1 has needed to take place with Liberty Media saying: “Liberty Media Corporation announced today that it has priced the previously-announced public offering of 10,650,000 shares of its Series C Liberty Formula One Common Stock (“FWONK”) at a public offering price of $77.50 per share.

“Liberty Media also granted the underwriter of the offering an option to purchase up to an additional 1,597,500 FWONK shares.

“Liberty Media expects to use the net proceeds from the sale of shares in this offering (i) to fund the increase in total cash consideration for the [MotoGP] Acquisition, which is expected to close by year-end 2024 and (ii) for general corporate purposes, including the repayment of debt.

“Completion of the offering is not conditioned upon consummation of the Acquisition. If the Acquisition is not consummated for any reason, the net proceeds from this offering would be available for general corporate purposes and attributed to the Formula One Group tracking stock. The offering… is expected to result in approximately $825,375,000 in gross proceeds to Liberty Media."

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