Liberty Media Corporation is an American mass media company controlled by its president and owner, John C. Malone, which owns the majority of shares. It is part of the NASDAQ-100 index.
Liberty Media was founded in 1991 as a subsidiary of Tele-Communications Inc., a cable television company. Liberty Media is a shareholder in Silver King and HSN (later USA Interactive and IAC/InterActiveCorp), which purchased Ticketmaster, Universal Television, USA Network and the Sci-Fi Channel in 1998.
In 2001, TCI sold Liberty Media to John C. Malone, TCI’s former chief executive. The company sold USA Broadcasting to Univision in 2001, and then the USA Network and Sci-Fi Channel to Vivendi in 2002.
In 2005, Liberty Media’s international division merged with UnitedGlobalCom to form Liberty Global. This group owns the telecommunications companies Virgin Media (United Kingdom), Telenet (Belgium), Ziggo (Netherlands), UPC (Central Europe) and VTR (Chile).
In 2007, Liberty Media sold its shares to multimedia News Corporation in exchange for satellite television company DirecTV and the Major League Baseball’s Atlanta Braves. In 2009, Liberty Media purchased 40% of Sirius XM Radio. In 2010, Ticketmaster merged with Live Nation, making Liberty Media a shareholder in the new company. In 2013, Liberty Media bought 27% of the telecommunications company Charter Communications.
And at the end of 2016, he bought Formula 1 for $4.4 billion. Since Liberty Media took control of Formula 1, the category has not stopped growing and expanding, especially in the US market. A clear example of this is the three races that are currently held in that territory, but it is not only about leading the sports offer in a place like this, but, according to Forbes magazine, the company that owns the Great Circus, It has a business value of $17.1 billion.
Bernie Ecclestone, the former head of the championship, sold Formula 1 for $4.4 billion at the end of 2016, but they were not able to appear on the prestigious economic environment list until five years later, when there was a renewal of classification. method. .
And Liberty Media confirmed on Monday that its next challenge is on two wheels. The American entertainment group acquired 86% of Dorna Sports, the Spanish company that manages the commercial and audiovisual rights of the Motorcycle World Championship, MotoGP, for a total of 4.2 billion euros, according to the company. The operation confirms Liberty Media as a giant in the motor world, as it also has the rights to broadcast Formula 1 since 2016.
In 2022, Dorna Sports generated a business volume of 474.8 million euros, representing an increase of 33% compared to the previous year, although the year closed with a loss of 7.8 million euros, as a result of the impact of the pandemic.
At the beginning of 2022, the Madrid company refinanced 975 million euros of debt, a resource that allowed it to strengthen its liquidity, as well as the distribution of dividends worth 390 million euros to shareholders this.
The change of model that Liberty applied to Formula 1 after its takeover was completed in 2016 led to the series increasing its level of popularity to levels never seen before.
The momentum of ‘Drive to Survive’, the Netflix documentary series that coincided with the pandemic, globalized a sports competition that until then was still considered niche.
At the same time, the continued expansion of the racing calendar – 24 this 2024 – has led to an increase in income. After the success of its entry into F1, Liberty now wants to replicate that success in MotoGP.
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.
