News Corp is reportedly interested in acquiring F1

The rumor is interesting for more than one reason. Firstly, it was launched by Sky News, which happens to be one of the components of Rupert Murdoch’s empire, through BSkyB, of which the American magnate currently holds 39%.

However, he specifically wishes to acquire the entire capital of the satellite bouquet. If this acquisition were ultimately to be approved by the UK Secretary of Culture, Jeremy Hunt, who is to deliver his final decision on April 26th, Rupert Murdoch would have to shell out nearly nine billion euros while his personal fortune is estimated at 6.9 billion dollars. Such an expenditure could thus prevent him from making other major investments in the near future, whereas CVC had spent 2.5 billion dollars to acquire F1. It is not typical for investment funds to sell at a loss, especially when they anticipate the repayment of the debt contracted for their LBO.

That’s where the second part of the plan unveiled by Sky comes in: News Corp is reportedly in preliminary discussions with Carlos Slim, the world’s richest person. He does not hide his interest in sports: he was one of the potential candidates for the acquisition of the Honda team before Ross Brawn ultimately won the bid. But he is particularly prominent this year through his company Telmex, which has become one of the main financial supporters of Sauber with the placement of Sergio Pérez.

Nevertheless, there is little chance that this will materialize in the near future, as the British newspaper clearly states that News Corp’s discussions are still at the very beginning of the process and there are no guarantees that there will be final offers. This last point is especially true as News Corp’s business model contradicts the Concorde Agreements, which will soon be renegotiated.

Indeed, they stipulate that priority should be given to free-to-air television channels when possible and when these channels wish to broadcast the races, which seems to be less and less the case (BBC in England, TF1 in France, RTL in Germany…). However, BSkyB operates on the same economic model as Canal+, meaning a paid subscription is required to access the broadcast content.

Bernie Ecclestone and the teams therefore have the power to veto a potential offer from Rupert Murdoch. That’s why the F1 supremo immediately told the Telegraph that it’s ridiculous. The sport is not for sale. This is in line with what he stated last week, namely that even if many investors are interested, CVC is not ready to sell. At the current time, in any case…

With the participation of RacingBusiness.fr