Maffei to depart as Liberty Media chief after nearly 20 years

Liberty Media, the US media giant, has today announced that long-serving president and chief executive, Greg Maffei, will be stepping down from his role at the end of 2024.

Maffei will not extend his contract when it expires at the end of the year and will serve as a senior advisor from 1 January to support the management transition.

Liberty Media’s chairman, John Malone, will assume the role of interim CEO and will work closely with the company’s executive team and the board of directors to “ensure a seamless transition.”

Malone has said: “Since joining in 2005, Greg has been at the forefront of the exciting evolution in the lifecycle of Liberty. He has grown our asset base and made the company better and more valuable for shareholders, along the way overseeing as many as five separate public companies simultaneously.

“Our company is simpler and more focused than ever before, which is a perfect capstone for Greg’s accomplished career at Liberty.”

Malone continued: “Looking ahead, I am acutely focused on rationalizing the structural discounts at Liberty Media and growing our attractive, cash-generative businesses.

“We have built a fantastic company with high-quality assets in media, communications, sports, and entertainment. I look forward to working with our executive team to uncover new opportunities for shareholder value creation.”

Under Maffei’s leadership, Liberty Media has significantly grown its media, sports, and entertainment assets.

During his 19-year tenure, Liberty completed the acquisition and investment in businesses including the iconic Formula 1 motor racing series, the Atlanta Braves MLB franchise, DirecTV, SiriusXM, Live Nation Entertainment, and Charter Communications.

Most recently, Liberty Media acquired Dorna Sports, the commercial rightsholder and organizer of motorcycling’s premier MotoGP series, for a deal valued at over €4 billion ($4.2 billion). That deal is expected to be completed by the end of 2024 before Maffei departs.

The acquisition puts Liberty in an extremely commanding position in motorsport where it could potentially combine the commercial operations of F1 and MotoGP.

Liberty acquired F1 in 2016 and has grown the series’ global appeal and commercial value over that period, largely thanks to the popularity of the hit Netflix documentary series surrounding it, Drive to Survive.

The company recently revealed F1’s revenue for 2023 climbed to $3.2 billion, up from $2.57 billion in 2022.

The 2024 F1 season is set to generate over $500 million in annual sponsorship revenue, according to a new GlobalData report.

Maffei said: “All the Liberty acquisitions completed during my tenure are now in structures where shareholders can have more direct ownership in their upside. The corporate structure is optimized, and the portfolio companies are in strong positions with talented executive teams in place.

“While it’s never easy to leave an organization as dynamic as Liberty, I am confident that this is the right time.”

As well as Maffei’s departure, Liberty Media also today announced it will split off its Liberty Live Group into a separate public entity.

Liberty Media’s subsidiary Quint would be reattributed from the Formula One Group to the Liberty Live Group in exchange for certain private assets.

Events company Quint was acquired by Liberty in January 2024.

Following the split-off, Liberty Media will be an independent, asset-backed company holding its motorsport businesses and related sports investments.

Maffei said: “The split-off of Liberty Live Group into a separate public entity will simplify Liberty Media’s capital structure, should reduce the discount to net asset value of our Liberty Live stock, and enhance trading liquidity at both entities.

“Since acquiring Quint in January 2024, we have bolstered its partnership with Formula 1 and gained insights into our fans and ticket demand trends, but Quint is also complementary to our interest in Live Nation, especially as Live Nation works to grow its hospitality operations.

“Quint can continue to enhance its partnership with F1 and MotoGP in this new ownership structure while having the opportunity to expand its offering to additional partners.”

As a result of the split-off, Liberty Media and Liberty Live will be separate publicly traded companies.

Liberty Live will hold approximately 69.6 million shares of Live Nation, Quint, and certain private assets currently attributed to Liberty Live Group.

Meanwhile, Liberty Media will hold its F1 and MotoGP subsidiaries (upon closing the latter acquisition) and certain private assets currently attributed to Formula One Group. Sportcal