The company that owns Formula 1, Liberty Media Corporation, is in negotiations with Bridgepoint about the possible purchase of Dorna Sports, manager of the MotoGP World Championship, according to the economic newspaper ‘Expansión’ published this Monday.
Although the amount was not disclosed, Bridgepoint values Dorna Sports at 4,000 million euros, so the London company will not accept an offer lower than this amount. If it takes over the competition, Liberty Media will control two major events in the motor world: Formula 1 and MotoGP.
Bridgepoint did not put Dorna Sports on the market, however, the interest of Liberty Media was joined by other giants in the audiovisual sector, such as Amazon, Netflix or Disney. At the same time, there are several venture capital funds that are studying entering the equation: CVC or KKR would see great potential in acquiring part or all of the rights to the motorcycle championship.
Bridgepoint considers Dorna to be an attractive company where there is always speculation about various parties interested in acquiring it. For its part, Liberty Media has not made any statement on this.
Although information about a possible Liberty Media offer has now emerged, in April 2023, the two competitions began talks to study the feasibility of jointly organizing a Grand Prix. The first contacts were maintained at the opening of the motorcycle world championship, in Portimao (Algarve, Portugal) between March 24 and 26.
The MotoGP World Championship closed the 2023 season, returning to pre-pandemic records, attracting 2.9 million spectators to the circuits in the year that saw Franceso Bagnaia crowned double world champion of the premier class.
The Shark Grand Prix de France, held at the Le Mans circuit on May 14, attracted 278,805 spectators between Friday’s free practice and Sunday’s races, making it the largest attended Grand Prix in history. Of these, more than 40% gathered at the circuit on May 16 to see Marco Bezzecchi win.
For its part, Liberty Media closed the 2022 season (the last one with public data) with a profit of 2,029 million dollars, compared to 744 million dollars in 2021. Also, the group increased its turnover to 12,164 million dollars in 2022 , 6.7% more than in the same period last season.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
