Liberty Media, the company that holds the commercial rights to Formula 1, is considering acquiring MotoGP. According to the Financial Times, the North American company is in advanced negotiations to buy the company owned by Carmelo Ezpeleta, who has managed Dorna Sports for three decades.
The same source reveals that Ezpeleta turned down a proposal from the TKO group and Qatar Sports Investments. Conversely, the businessman will have given the green light to the 4 billion euros proposed by John Malone, multimillionaire owner of Liberty Media.
The proposal will interest Carmelo Ezpeleta, as the billions of euros cover Dorna Sports’ debt. It is important to clarify that the Spanish brand is responsible for organizing 251 races annually, in 20 countries.
Even though the agreement seems imminent, and could be made official next week, free competition and market balance regulations could prevent this deal.
At the beginning of this century, in 2006, CVC Capital Partners, then owner of the two championships, was forced by the European Union to sell the MotoGP World Championship.
The value mentioned by the entire championship, which includes three categories – MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 – is slightly higher than the valuation of the two most valuable teams in Formula 1: according to Forbes, in 2023 Mercedes was valued at 3.52 billion euros. In turn, Ferrari was valued at 3.61 billion euros.
