- F1 owner Liberty to acquire MotoGP for €4.2bn if approved
- CVC had to sell MotoGP after similar probe in 2006
Liberty Media’s prospective takeover of MotoGP will by fully investigated by the European Union’s (EU) antitrust department.
Liberty agreed to acquire approximately 86 per cent of the shares in Dorna Sports, the commercial rights holder of MotoGP, back in April in a deal worth an enterprise value of €4.2 billion (US$4.5 billion).
According to Bloomberg, the EU’s new antitrust chief Teresa Ribera is concerned the acquisition could hamper competition in broadcasting and streaming markets, given Liberty Media also owns Formula One.
However, BlackBook Motorsport understands that MotoGP executives consider this part of the process and that there should be no concerns over the deal being approved.
The EU’s antitrust arm usually demands that solutions are found to competition concerns but sometimes also decides to approve deals if its initial concerns are shown to be unfounded.
CVC Capital Partners faced a similar probe in 2006, when EU competition regulators decided the private equity firm had to sell one of MotoGP or Formula One.
Related posts
- Liberty’s €4.2bn MotoGP takeover: Answering the key questions and what it means for F1
- MotoGP on the market: Does the series’ commercial performance justify a US$4bn valuation?
BlackBook says…
It would be a surprise to see regulators block the takeover. Simply put, the world of motorsport is very different in 2024 compared to 2006.
Liberty owning two global motorsport series is not as market-altering now as it would have been 18 years ago. In truth, Formula One and MotoGP operate at entirely different levels of popularity today.
Plus, the pair are now in competition with much more than just other sports properties, let alone other motorsport series.
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