Greg Maffei ,The president and chief executive officer of Liberty Media (which owns F1 ) has cleared the air on rumors of Saudi Arabian PIF (Public Investment Fund) offering $20 billion to buy Formula1 towards the end of 2022 season .
In a recent interaction on the Walker Webcast, Maffei was asked about Liberty Media’s purchase of F1 and is there any desire to sell it anytime soon .
Maffei said , “We’re a C Corp, meaning that if we sell a division, we pay corporate level tax, and then any proceeds we would pay that get distributed to our shareholders they would, in addition, pay tax .
“If we were to spin Formula 1 away, create a separate company and wait a sufficient [amount] of time, [and] have no plan or intent to sell – that asset could be sold down the road, and there would be no corporate-level tax.
“So what I [am] saying is, the way we are structured today, given that tax basis, we would not be sellers.
“If we wish to be sellers, or even consider it, you’d need to do a spin and, spinning it away, there are other reasons why we might do that – it’s not just to do a sale, but the way we are structured that would be very unattractive.
“I’ve said this publicly before, the Saudis have been partners on a couple of things – they have a race there. Aramco is a sponsor, but they never approached us.
“And, frankly, $20 billion would not be an attractive price. It’s trading for 17/18, so why 20? I’d want a hell of a lot more than that! We’re pretty bullish on the future.”
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Peace ✌️
