RiderTua.com – MotoGP was offered by an American conglomerate too, at a price 3 trillion (IDR) higher than Liberty Media, but why didn’t Dorna accept it? TKO Group Holdings, Inc. is a media conglomerate from Uncle Sam’s country (America) founded by Endeavor as part of a merger between World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), Inc. and Zuffa, the parent company of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).. TKO Group announced that the proposal to purchase MotoGP (Dorna Sport) was superior to that proposed by Liberty Media (200 million euros or around IDR 3.4 trillion), but why was it rejected?
MotoGP is being bid by a conglomerate at a price 3 trillion higher than Liberty Media
After F1, Liberty Media will also manage MotoGP. A few days ago an agreement to acquire 86% of Dorna Sports worth 4.2 billion euros (Rp. 72.3 trillion) was announced and now it’s just a matter of waiting how they manage MotoGP (perhaps it will be like F1 in terms of marketing), which is expected to happen at the end in 2024. There is great curiosity to see what will change with new management. Carmelo Ezpeleta has tried so that there is no turmoil whatsoever with this change of ownership.
Liberty Media is not the only one interested in becoming the new owner of MotoGP. Qatar Sports Investment and TKO Group have also submitted bids. Qatar Sports Investment is an investment company associated with the Qatar Investment Authority, which is Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund. Among its assets is Paris Saint-Germain, the famous Parisian football club acquired in 2012.
The TKO Group, itself, is an American group that operates in sectors such as sports and entertainment (premium sports and entertainment company). He is the owner of UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship, the world’s leading mixed martial arts organization) and WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment, the leading wrestling organization). In short, Liberty Media beats the two media giants.
Ariel Emanuel, CEO of TKO Group, revealed the background to the important story to the Financial Times “We know that our offer was worth 200 million euros more than Liberty Media’s offer,” he said, adding that he did not understand why the higher proposal was not accepted.
The Financial Times itself explained that Bridgepoint, the British company which has a majority stake in Dorna Sports, did not dispute the value of TKO’s offer and refused to comment on Emanuel’s statement. However, a person familiar with the matter said that UFC and WWE owners are not culturally compatible (perhaps because wrestling/fighting sports are different from automotive sports). Maybe Bridgepoint prefers to sell it to those who already have experience in the world of motorsport, considering that Liberty Media has managed F1 since 2017.
