Liberty Media finalizes the purchase of MotoGP for 4 billion euros

The agreement could be announced in the next few days, before the next event on the calendar, the United States Grand Prix scheduled for April 12th. Motorsport.com understands that the leaders of Liberty Media and those of Dorna Sports, promoters of the MotoGP, WorldSBK and MotoE world championships, have already completed the operation a few weeks ago. In fact, the intention of both parties was to make it official before the Qatar Grand Prix, the first event of the season. However, at that moment the concern about the intervention of the European Commission body that regulates the competition market had frozen the maneuver. While one side recommended proceeding, the other, more conservative, preferred to wait for developments. The Financial Times anticipated this Wednesday afternoon that the purchase is a fact, although the business daily underlines that it would be very strange if the antitrust authorities did not examine the case. In this sense, it should be highlighted that CVC Capital Partners, an investment fund based in Luxembourg, owned both titles in the past but was forced to sell one (MotoGP) in 2006 by the antitrust authorities.

Although Liberty has always been the preferred offering of Dorna's top management, in recent times there have also been moves by Qatar Sports Investments, Qatar's sovereign investment fund, and TKO, the media and entertainment conglomerate which, among the other, owns the rights to the UFC fighting championship.

Over the past year, the sale of Dorna has become one of the priorities of Bridgepoint and the Canadian Pension Fund (CPPIB). Bridgepoint, which became a shareholder in 2006 by purchasing its shares from CVC, owns about 40% of the shares, while CPPIB holds 38%. Both companies are structured around Global Racing LX2, a Luxembourg company. The remaining 22% is shared between Carmelo Ezpeleta, CEO, who has managed operations since 1992, and a small group of managers.

In 2022, Dorna Sports generated a turnover of 474.8 million, an increase of 33% compared to the previous year, although the year ended with a loss of 7.8 million euros due to the impact of the pandemic. Earlier that year (2022), the Madrid-based company refinanced $975 million in debt, a move that allowed it to strengthen its liquidity, and also paid dividends of $390 million to its shareholders.

The change of model that Liberty applied to Formula 1, after completing its acquisition in 2016, made the popularity of the Circus skyrocket to levels never seen before. The launch of Drive to Survive, the Netflix docu-series that temporally coincided with the pandemic, globalized a specialty that until then had been reserved for a very specialized fan profile. At the same time, the strategy of expanding the calendar, which in 2024 will have 24 events, ensures that profits skyrocket. After the success of its entry into F1, Liberty now wants to replicate it with MotoGP.