Passing of the baton
Thursday 13 June promises to be a day to remember in its own way in the still short history of Formula E. In fact, the 100% electric series has today discovered that it is destined for change owneras revealed by the championship’s official website: Liberty Global Ltd. will in fact acquire the shares held by Warner Bros. Once the transaction is completed, Liberty Global will own the 65% of the shares and will therefore assume a position of control over sport.
Liberty Global and Liberty Media: what are the differences
This announcement made some people mistakenly think that now Formula 1 and Formula E are destined to be under the same ownershipbut actually this is not true. While Circus is managed by Liberty Media, the electric series will be controlled by Liberty Global, which is a different entity.
The latter is indeed born in 2005 from the merger of the international branch of Liberty Media and UnitedGlobalCom (UGC). The two companies (Liberty Media and Liberty Global) share the same chairman of the board – John C. Malone – and one member of the board of directors – Larry E. Romrell – but otherwise they operate as two independent companies. Among the internationally relevant brands owned by Liberty Global are giants such as VodafoneZiggo and Virgin Media O2.
“Long-term” investment
“We are thrilled to take a controlling stake in Formula E, a company we first invested in almost 10 years ago – he has declared Mike FriesCEO of Liberty Global – Formula E has enormous growth potential and integrates the most advanced sustainability standards in sport. The investment continues our approach of disciplined capital rotation in our Ventures portfolio and the our strategy of making long-term investments in companies deemed highly attractive“.
