In January 2017, Liberty Media completed the acquisition of Formula One Group from former owners CVC Partners in a deal reported to be worth $8bn.
That acquisition caused some surprise as a 2012 private sale of F1 equity valued the series at $9.1bn, meaning 12% of that value had eroded in the four years before Liberty made their binding cash and stock offer. The below table shows the implied valuations at three significant events: the acquisition by CVC Partners in 2006, the above-mentioned sale of a 28.3% stake to Norway’s sovereign wealth fund Norges along with money managers Blackrock and Waddell & Reed in 2012 and the Liberty acquisition in 2016.
