LIBERTY MEDIA SPINS OFF, FOCUSES ON F1

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Liberty Media is set to refocus F1 and MotoGP investments with a new spinoff, as Malone Steps in as CEO.

Key Lead­er­ship Change at Lib­er­ty Media

Nov. 13 – Lib­er­ty Media, the pow­er­house behind For­mu­la One, has announced it will spin off many of its non-motor­sports assets to sharp­en its focus on For­mu­la One and oth­er sports invest­ments. In a major shift, John Mal­one, the com­pa­ny’s chair­man and found­ing vision­ary, is set to step in as inter­im CEO fol­low­ing the retire­ment of long­time leader Greg Maf­fei at the end of 2024.

Maf­fei, who has over­seen Lib­er­ty Media’s broad expan­sion across media, enter­tain­ment, and sports, will tran­si­tion to a senior advi­so­ry role start­ing Jan­u­ary 1, 2025, after near­ly 20 years with the com­pa­ny.

 

Liberty’s Port­fo­lio Realign­ment

As part of this strate­gic piv­ot, Lib­er­ty Media will retain its motor­sports inter­ests, includ­ing For­mu­la One and MotoGP. At the same time, it plans to estab­lish a new com­pa­ny, Lib­er­ty Live, which will hold its tick­et­ing, events, and enter­tain­ment assets, includ­ing a 70-mil­lion-share stake in con­cert pro­mot­er Live Nation Enter­tain­ment.

Lib­er­ty Live will also man­age pri­vate assets, Quint (a tick­et­ing and events unit acquired ear­li­er this year), and asso­ci­at­ed cash and debt. Accord­ing to Maf­fei, this sep­a­ra­tion will sim­pli­fy Liberty’s cap­i­tal struc­ture, poten­tial­ly boost stock liq­uid­i­ty, and improve trad­ing dynam­ics.

 

End of the Track­ing Stock Struc­ture

Fol­low­ing the split, Lib­er­ty Media will no longer use a track­ing stock struc­ture, a change expect­ed to offer share­hold­ers direct own­er­ship in Liberty’s busi­ness­es. The com­pa­ny esti­mates the spin-off to be com­plet­ed in the lat­ter half of 2025.

Broad­band Spin-off and Char­ter Merg­er

In a relat­ed announce­ment, Lib­er­ty Broad­band, a for­mer Lib­er­ty Media sub­sidiary, revealed plans to merge with Char­ter Com­mu­ni­ca­tions in an all-stock deal. Lib­er­ty Broad­band will spin off its GCI division—an Alaskan tele­com provider—before the Char­ter merg­er clos­es in mid-2027.

 

Malone’s Vision for the Future

Known for his strate­gic acqui­si­tions, John Mal­one, 83, cre­at­ed the Lib­er­ty Media empire through inno­v­a­tive approach­es in U.S. pay-TV and media con­sol­i­da­tion. Under Maffei’s lead­er­ship, the com­pa­ny has expand­ed to include DirecTV, Sir­iusXM, Live Nation, and For­mu­la One, estab­lish­ing itself as a major play­er across enter­tain­ment sec­tors.

As Lib­er­ty Media leans fur­ther into motor­sports, investors are eager to see how this stream­lined focus will fuel For­mu­la One’s glob­al growth and enhance Liberty’s core mis­sion in sports enter­tain­ment.