Liberty Media Ready To Sell $825 Million In F1 Stakes To Raise A Whopping $4.2 Billion For MotoGP Purchase

Saajan Jogia | Aug 22, 2024

Apr 14, 2024; Austin, TX, USA; Maverick Vinales (12) of Spain and Aprilia Racing and Francesco Bagnaia (1) of Italy and Ducati Lenovo Team rides during the MotoGP Grand Prix of The Americas at Circuit of The Americas. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports / Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Liberty Media has announced the sale of its Formula 1 stake worth $825 million to make up for the purchase of MotoGP. The sale of over 10 million shares, priced at $77.50 per share, will yield sufficient revenue required to complete the deal with Dorna Sports, the owner of MotoGP, for a whopping $4.2 billion.

While the sale amount from the F1 share will also be utilized for repayment of debts and other corporate needs, Liberty Media will secure 86% of the shares of Dorna after the conclusion of its MotoGP takeover. Finalizing the deal with Dorna took longer than expected, even though both parties had agreed on the terms well in advance. They originally aimed to announce the news before the 2024 MotoGP season kicked off in March.

Announcing the sale of shares on Thursday, the official statement from Liberty Media read:

"ENGLEWOOD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Liberty Media Corporation (“Liberty Media”) (Nasdaq: LSXMA, LSXMB, LSXMK, FWONA, FWONK, LLYVA, LLVYK) announced today that it has priced the previously-announced public offering of 10,650,000 shares of its Series C Liberty Formula One Common Stock (“FWONK”) at a public offering price of $77.50 per share. Liberty Media also granted the underwriter of the offering an option to purchase up to an additional 1,597,500 FWONK shares.

"The offering is expected to close on August 22, 2024, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, and is expected to result in approximately $825,375,000 in gross proceeds to Liberty Media, before deducting the underwriter’s discounts and estimated offering expenses payable by Liberty Media (assuming no exercise of the underwriter’s option to purchase additional shares).

"Liberty Media intends to exercise its option to deliver additional cash in lieu of shares of FWONK as part of its previously disclosed proposed acquisition (the “Acquisition”) of Dorna Sports, S.L., such that all the consideration paid will be comprised of cash and no shares of FWONK will be issued to the sellers. Liberty Media expects to use the net proceeds from the sale of shares in this offering (i) to fund the increase in total cash consideration for the Acquisition, which is expected to close by year-end 2024 and (ii) for general corporate purposes, including the repayment of debt.

"Completion of the offering is not conditioned upon consummation of the Acquisition. If the Acquisition is not consummated for any reason, the net proceeds from this offering would be available for general corporate purposes and attributed to the Formula One Group tracking stock.

"Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC is acting as the sole underwriter for the offering."

In the pursuit of acquiring MotoGP, Liberty Media triumphed over other interested parties, such as TKO, the owner of Ultimate Fighting Championship and World Wrestling Entertainment, and
Qatar Sports Investments. The big move made by the Colorado-based company arrived within a decade of its F1 purchase in 2016.