F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone has revealed that the series' controlling shareholder, the private equity firm CVC, "does not have a deadline to sell its stake in the auto racing series as was previously thought," according to Christian Sylt for FORBES.
CVC acquired F1 in a leveraged buyout in '06. CVC holds a 35% stake worth around $4.2B according to a '13 report in the London Guardian, which put a $12B valuation on the entire company. F1 "still has huge untapped potential for expansion and will this year race in Mexico City after a 23-year absence." Away from the track, the growth potential "is equally high as the series currently lacks an official comic, cartoon and merchandise line which could not only drive significant revenue but would also address claims that F1 has an ageing demographic." With this kind of promise on the horizon "it is little surprise that CVC wants to stick around." Ecclestone: "The trouble is that they don’t want to sell. That’s the important thing. They don’t need and don’t want to sell so I don’t know what they are going to do" (FORBES, 3/28).
