{"id":8188,"date":"2016-09-08T15:19:00","date_gmt":"2016-09-08T15:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2016\/09\/08\/liberty-media-to-buy-formula-one-for-4-4-billion\/"},"modified":"2016-09-08T15:19:00","modified_gmt":"2016-09-08T15:19:00","slug":"liberty-media-to-buy-formula-one-for-4-4-billion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/liberty-media-to-buy-formula-one-for-4-4-billion\/","title":{"rendered":"Liberty Media To Buy Formula One For $4.4 Billion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-style:italic;font-size:16px\">By  <a class=\"colorbox\" href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/thetwo-way\/2016\/09\/08\/493096253\/liberty-media-to-buy-formula-one-for-4-4-billion?utm_medium=RSS&amp;utm_campaign=sports\">Merrit Kennedy<\/a><\/span>  <\/p>\n<div class=\"ftpimagefix\" style=\"float:left\"><a class=\"colorbox\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/thetwo-way\/2016\/09\/08\/493096253\/liberty-media-to-buy-formula-one-for-4-4-billion?utm_medium=RSS&amp;utm_campaign=sports\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/media.npr.org\/assets\/img\/2016\/09\/08\/gettyimages-599658724-0ce2679563b4b96db3042bca81b4c1a9c9057c88-s1100-c15.jpg\" alt=\"\"><\/a><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><button>Enlarge this image<\/button><\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p>Drivers battle for position at the start of the Formula One Grand Prix of Italy at Autodromo di Monza on Sunday in Monza, Italy. <strong>Mark Thompson\/Getty<\/strong> <strong>hide caption<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>toggle caption<\/strong> <span>Mark Thompson\/Getty<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Liberty Media says it has reached an agreement to buy the Formula One auto-racing franchise for $4.4 billion.<\/p>\n<p>As NPR&#8217;s Yuki Noguchi tells our Newscast unit, the U.S. cable giant &#8220;has been on a buying spree, and this acquisition bolsters its sports offerings.&#8221; Here&#8217;s more from Yuki:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<div>\n<p>&#8220;Liberty Media is part of the growing media empire controlled by cable-TV pioneer and billionaire John Malone. Malone&#8217;s properties expanded in the last year to include Time Warner Cable.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;His Discovery Communications and Liberty Global have also been expanding geographically and into more sports-focused programming, where much of the cable-related advertising money is made. And that is where Formula One fits in with Liberty Media. The franchise makes money through TV rights, sponsorships and deals with teams.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Liberty is acquiring the franchise from CVC Capital Partners, &#8220;a private equity firm that purchased London-based Formula One a decade ago,&#8221; Yuki reports.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"colorbox\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/ir.libertymedia.com\/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=988264\">Liberty says it has already acquired<\/a> &#8220;an 18.7% minority stake in Formula One for $746 million,&#8221; paid in cash. Liberty says expects to complete the deal by acquiring 100 percent of the shares of Formula One&#8217;s parent company, Delta Topco, by the first quarter of 2017.<\/p>\n<p>The cable giant has said it sees an opening to expand Formula One&#8217;s digital offerings. <a class=\"colorbox\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2016-09-07\/liberty-media-to-acquire-formula-one-for-4-4-billion-cnbc-says\">As Bloomberg reports<\/a>, Liberty Media&#8217;s CEO called Formula One&#8217;s digital operations &#8220;underdeveloped&#8221; in a conference call and said &#8220;that the company would look to harness technologies like virtual reality and video games in an effort to develop the fan base and generate new sources of revenue.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Chase Carey, formerly with 21st Century Fox, will be the new chairman of Formula One. &#8220;There&#8217;s interest in this sport around the world,&#8221; Carey said in a conference call, according to Bloomberg. &#8220;We want to continue to intelligently explore the opportunities to continue to grow it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Formula One&#8217;s longtime CEO, Bernie Ecclestone, will continue in that role. As Reuters reports, the &#8220;controversial figure&#8221; has &#8220;transformed the sport into one of the world&#8217;s richest.&#8221; But at the same time, the wire service writes, he has &#8220;not groomed a successor and critics have accused him of holding back the sport thorough a failure to embrace fully new media or the digital marketplace.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong><a class=\"colorbox\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/blockads.fivefilters.org\/\">Let&#8217;s block ads!<\/a><\/strong> <a class=\"colorbox\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/fivefilters\/block-ads\/wiki\/There-are-no-acceptable-ads\">(Why?)<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Source:: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/thetwo-way\/2016\/09\/08\/493096253\/liberty-media-to-buy-formula-one-for-4-4-billion?utm_medium=RSS&amp;utm_campaign=sports\" class=\"colorbox\" title=\"Liberty Media To Buy Formula One For $4.4 Billion\" rel=\"nofollow\">http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/thetwo-way\/2016\/09\/08\/493096253\/liberty-media-to-buy-formula-one-for-4-4-billion?utm_medium=RSS&amp;utm_campaign=sports<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"ftpimagefix\" style=\"float:left\"><a class=\"colorbox\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/thetwo-way\/2016\/09\/08\/493096253\/liberty-media-to-buy-formula-one-for-4-4-billion?utm_medium=RSS&amp;utm_campaign=sports\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/media.npr.org\/assets\/img\/2016\/09\/08\/gettyimages-599658724-0ce2679563b4b96db3042bca81b4c1a9c9057c88-s1100-c15.jpg\" alt=\"\"><\/a><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><button>Enlarge this image<\/button><\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p>Drivers battle for position at the start of the Formula One Grand Prix of Italy at Autodromo di Monza on Sunday in Monza, Italy. <strong>Mark Thompson\/Getty<\/strong> <strong>hide caption<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>toggle caption<\/strong> <span>Mark Thompson\/Getty<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Liberty Media says it has reached an agreement to buy the Formula One auto-racing franchise for $4.4 billion.<\/p>\n<p>As NPR&#8217;s Yuki Noguchi tells our Newscast unit, the U.S. cable giant &#8220;has been on a buying spree, and this acquisition bolsters its sports offerings.&#8221; Here&#8217;s more from Yuki:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<div>\n<p>&#8220;Liberty Media is part of the growing media empire controlled by cable-TV pioneer and billionaire John Malone. Malone&#8217;s properties expanded in the last year to include Time Warner Cable.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;His Discovery Communications and Liberty Global have also been expanding geographically and into more sports-focused programming, where much of the cable-related advertising money is made. And that is where Formula One fits in with Liberty Media. The franchise makes money through TV rights, sponsorships and deals with teams.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Liberty is acquiring the franchise from CVC Capital Partners, &#8220;a private equity firm that purchased London-based Formula One a decade ago,&#8221; Yuki reports.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"colorbox\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/ir.libertymedia.com\/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=988264\">Liberty says it has already acquired<\/a> &#8220;an 18.7% minority stake in Formula One for $746 million,&#8221; paid in cash. Liberty says expects to complete the deal by acquiring 100 percent of the shares of Formula One&#8217;s parent company, Delta Topco, by the first quarter of 2017.<\/p>\n<p>The cable giant has said it sees an opening to expand Formula One&#8217;s digital offerings. <a class=\"colorbox\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2016-09-07\/liberty-media-to-acquire-formula-one-for-4-4-billion-cnbc-says\">As Bloomberg reports<\/a>, Liberty Media&#8217;s CEO called Formula One&#8217;s digital operations &#8220;underdeveloped&#8221; in a conference call and said &#8220;that the company would look to harness technologies like virtual reality and video games in an effort to develop the fan base and generate new sources of revenue.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Chase Carey, formerly with 21st Century Fox, will be the new chairman of Formula One. &#8220;There&#8217;s interest in this sport around the world,&#8221; Carey said in a conference call, according to Bloomberg. &#8220;We want to continue to intelligently explore the opportunities to continue to grow it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Formula One&#8217;s longtime CEO, Bernie Ecclestone, will continue in that role. As Reuters reports, the &#8220;controversial figure&#8221; has &#8220;transformed the sport into one of the world&#8217;s richest.&#8221; But at the same time, the wire service writes, he has &#8220;not groomed a successor and critics have accused him of holding back the sport thorough a failure to embrace fully new media or the digital marketplace.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong><a class=\"colorbox\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/blockads.fivefilters.org\/\">Let&#8217;s block ads!<\/a><\/strong> <a class=\"colorbox\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/fivefilters\/block-ads\/wiki\/There-are-no-acceptable-ads\">(Why?)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[221],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8188\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}