F1 owner’s $5 billion MotoGP deal faces full-scale EU probe

MADRID – Formula One owner Liberty Media’s US$3.8 billion (S$5.1 billion) plan to buy motorcycle racing league MotoGP World Championship is set to be hit by an in-depth European Union probe, in the first escalation of a big merger case by new antitrust chief Teresa Ribera.

The Spaniard’s team is concerned the tie-up could hamper competition in broadcasting and streaming markets by drawing two giant motor racing brands under one banner, according to people familiar with the EU probe who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Officials are now readying a decision to start a so-called Phase 2 probe by the deadline of Dec 19, they said, adding that the European Commission’s step was still in draft form and could still change.

A Liberty Media spokesperson said that the company is continuing to “work constructively” with EU regulators as part of the review and that it hopes they “will understand the dynamic nature of the market”.

The Brussels-based commission declined to comment.

Liberty Media is taking over Madrid-based MotoGP by buying its exclusive rights holder Dorna Sports with a combination of cash and shares of Series C Liberty Formula One common stock.

The deal will bring one of the world’s biggest motor racing brands and MotoGP – often described as the two-wheeled equivalent of Formula One – under a single roof.

Regulators have previously raised concerns over drawing both sporting brands together. CVC Capital Partners was forced to put MotoGP up for sale nearly two decades ago to gain antitrust approval from European regulators for its takeover of Formula One in 2005. 

MotoGP is just the latest asset to be taken over by billionaire John Malone’s sprawling Liberty Media empire that already includes a wide range of media, communications and entertainment businesses. 

Since buying Formula One in 2016, Liberty Media has targeted key markets including the United States, attempted to grow the sport’s popularity through digital streaming and struck gold with the show Drive To Survive.

In other news, former F1 team boss Eddie Jordan, 76, spoke on Dec 12 of going through “very dark days” after being diagnosed with prostate and bladder cancer earlier in 2024.

His Silverstone-based Jordan team competed from 1991 to 2005 and, after multiple changes of ownership, now race as Aston Martin.

“Way back in March and April, I was diagnosed with bladder and prostate cancer, and then it spread into the spine and the pelvis, so it was quite aggressive,” Jordan told the Formula For Success podcast he co-hosts with former racer David Coulthard.

“We’ve all heard about our wonderful friend, Sir Chris Hoy, who’s an absolute megastar, and he is coming out and talking about illnesses such like what I’ve got, but he’s a far younger man,” he added.

Britain’s six-time Olympic track cycling champion Hoy revealed in October that he had terminal prostate cancer.

Jordan urged men to get themselves tested and said he had gone through “some very dark days in there, but we pulled out of it, thankfully”. REUTERS, BLOOMBERG