By Canadian Press

US firm Liberty Media buying Formula One auto racing series

Sep 7, 2016 | 11:15 AM

LONDON — Formula One is being bought by Liberty Media, a U.S. company that invests in entertainment and sports, for $4.4 billion.

Liberty Media Corp., which is controlled by 75-year-old tycoon John Malone, has ended years of uncertainty about the ownership of the auto racing series with Wednesday’s deal.

There will be continuity, with long-standing commercial chief Bernie Ecclestone remaining the chief executive officer of F1. But the 85-year-old Ecclestone will have to work under a new chairman: Chase Carey, the executive vice chairman of Rupert Murdoch’s entertainment conglomerate 21st Century Fox.

Formula One has hundreds of millions of fans, and Carey said in a statement that he sees opportunity to develop it.

Liberty said it has initially purchased a minority stake of 18.7 per cent for $746 million. A buyout is expected to be completed by March 2017. F1’s biggest current shareholder, investment fund CVC Capital Partners, and the other sellers will still own 65 per cent of Formula One Group stock, and retain board representation. But CVC, which first invested in F1 in 2005, is ceding control of the sport to Malone’s Liberty, which has all the voting shares.

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The company says the deal values Formula One at $8 billion, including debt.

Malone also owns Major League Baseball team Atlanta Braves and has stakes in radio company Sirius XM and European telecom company Liberty Global, U.S. cable company Charter and various cable-TV companies.

“There’s lots of new things we are going to have to start putting into place, bringing them up to speed … I am very, very happy that they can come in and do things (for the sport),” Ecclestone told The Associated Press.

Ecclestone is optimistic Liberty has the resources, expertise and outlook to drive the growth of F1 — particularly in the United States.

“I hope they do a lot because they are American and have had dealings in television in America for a long time,” Ecclestone said. “They have dealings with a lot of sponsors because of their TV networks and social media which we haven’t done (as much) in the past.”

The sport returned to the U.S. in 2012 after a five-year absence, with Austin hosting the race under the current deals.

“I have been trying to do things in America for years but not very successfully,” Ecclestone said. “We tried, but maybe they are the people that can get it done.”

Asked about challenging NASCAR’s supremacy in the U.S., Ecclestone said: “They are the people that should be concerned, of course.”

At the time of the sale, CVC had a 35.5 per cent stake in F1, followed by U.S. fund manager Waddell & Reed with slightly more than 20 per cent. Ecclestone has 5.3 per cent stake in F1 but his family Bambino Trust has a further 8.5 per cent, rounding up his involvement up to about 14 per cent.

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Tali Arbel contributed from New York.

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Rob Harris can be followed at www.twitter.com/RobHarris and www.facebook.com/RobHarrisReports

Rob Harris, The Associated Press