News Corp, Rupert Murdoch’s global media company, is reported to be in discussions with partners over the possibility of a takeover bid for Formula One.
However, Bernie Ecclestone dismissed the idea as ““rubbish”” while News Corp refused to comment on what was described as ““speculation”“.
Sky News, which is partly owned by News Corp, reported that the company had spoken to the world’s richest man - Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim - as well as holding talks with at least one Formula One team with the view of potentially putting a consortium together to attempt to acquire the sport from current owners CVC.
“It is all rubbish,” Ecclestone countered. Tehran Times
But the 80-year-old Ecclestone, who runs F1 on behalf of CVC since selling his rights to the private equity firm in 2006, said such a deal would not be in the commercial interests of the sport.
“Formula One is not for sale. And, anyway, we would not sell to a media company because it would restrict the ability to negotiate with other broadcasters,” he said.
Ecclestone, who first secured the rights to negotiate television contracts for races in the late 1970s, said News Corp had not made any approach to CVC.
“If they were interested for sure they would have called me and they haven’t,” he told Bloomsberg.
“If someone was to come along with an enormous offer, a lot more than it were worth, then they have to look at it. They have never talked about selling, though.”
The current Concorde Agreement between the F1 teams expires next year, and Ferrari—one of eight marques on the grid who made a failed breakaway bid in 2009 before signing the deal—is reportedly among the parties seeking to wrest control of the sport from Ecclestone. CNN International
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