Business Overview: Liberty Media Corporation / Formula One Group (NASDAQ: FWONK)

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Executive Summary

Liberty Media Corporation (trading as the Formula One Group tracking stock under tickers FWONA/FWONB/FWONK) owns and operates Formula 1, the world's premier open-wheel motor racing championship, along with MotoGP (the top-tier motorcycle racing championship, acquired via Dorna Sports, S.L., now operating as a subsidiary) and the QuintEvents hospitality business. Following the Liberty Live Split-Off on December 15, 2025, which spun off Liberty Live Group as an independent company, the Formula One Group tracking stock structure was retired — Liberty Formula One common stock is now the company's only remaining common stock, no longer a tracking stock, though it continues to trade in three share classes (A, B, and the more liquid C shares under FWONK).

Formula 1's business model rests on exclusive, multi-generational commercial rights: the "100-Year Agreements" with the FIA run through 2110, giving Liberty essentially permanent control of the championship's commercial exploitation. Revenue is diversified across race promotion fees (26.7% of 2025 revenue, from promoter contracts running three to seven years with annual escalators), media rights (31.3%, from three-to-five-year broadcast deals spanning free-to-air, pay TV, and the direct-to-consumer F1 TV product), sponsorship (21.7%, trackside advertising, title sponsorships, and Global Partner deals), and other revenue (~20.3%, including Paddock Club hospitality, freight/logistics, support series like F2/F3/F1 Academy, and licensing).

2025 was another record year: Formula 1 segment revenue reached $3.873 billion (up 14%), with Adjusted OIBDA of $946 million (up 20%) and operating income of $632 million (up 28%), reflecting the continued global commercial momentum of F1's "Drive to Survive"-era popularity boom, now extending into MotoGP's first full year under Liberty's ownership. The combination of century-long exclusive rights, multi-year escalating contracts across three revenue streams, and a global live-event+media franchise with no true substitute gives Formula 1 one of the strongest moats of any company in this research set.

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1. Core Business Model & How They Work

   FIA (100-Year           Formula 1 (via Delta         Race promoters, TV
   Agreement, through -->  Topco Limited):         -->  broadcasters/F1 TV
   2110) grants              exclusive commercial          subscribers,
   exclusive commercial      rights holder                 sponsors/advertisers
   rights                         |
                                   |
   FIM (Agreement           MotoGP (Dorna Sports    -->  Race promoters,
   through 2060) grants -->  S.L. subsidiary):            broadcasters,
   exclusive commercial      exclusive commercial         sponsors
   rights                    rights holder
                                   |
                         Race promotion fees + media
                         rights fees + sponsorship +
                         hospitality/logistics/licensing

2. Business Segments

                 Liberty Media Corporation
              (Liberty Formula One common stock,
               formerly "Formula One Group" tracking
               stock; tracking structure retired
               12/15/2025 after Liberty Live Split-Off)
                   ______________|______________
                  |                              |
            Formula 1                        MotoGP
      (Delta Topco Limited)          (Dorna Sports, S.L.)
      - 24 Events, 21 countries        - 22 events, 18 countries
        (2025); ~200 territories         (2025); 3.6M+ cumulative
      - Revenue: race promotion          live audience
        26.7%, media rights 31.3%,     - Revenue: media rights
        sponsorship 21.7%, other         41.2%, race promotion
        ~20.3%                           33.7%, sponsorship 12.7%
                  |
            QuintEvents
      (hospitality / experiential
       events business)

3. Product Portfolio

4. Competitive Landscape

Formula 1 and MotoGP compete for viewership, live attendance, advertising dollars, and media rights fees against other global sports and entertainment properties, explicitly including the Olympic Games, FIFA World Cup, the UEFA Champions League, La Liga, and the Premier League.

                High exclusivity / century-long rights
                              |
      Formula 1 (100-Year *  |
      Agreement through      |
      2110)                  |
                              |
   Narrow sport focus   -----+----- Broad multi-sport
   (motorsport)               |      entertainment ecosystems
                              |
      MotoGP               * |  * Olympics, FIFA World Cup,
                              |    Champions League, Premier League
                Lower exclusivity / shorter rights terms

5. Strategic Strengths & Risks

Strengths

• Century-long exclusive rights: the FIA 100-Year Agreement (through 2110) and the FIM Agreement (through 2060) grant Liberty effectively permanent commercial control of two of the world's premier motorsport championships — an extraordinarily long-duration moat few other media/sports assets can match.
• Diversified, multi-stream revenue model: race promotion, media rights, and sponsorship each represent roughly a quarter to a third of revenue, with escalating multi-year contracts providing visibility and pricing power over time.
• Global, growing audience: 24 F1 events across 21 countries and 2025 revenue growth of 14% reflect continued momentum from F1's expanded global popularity (including U.S. market growth via Netflix's "Drive to Survive" and new races like Las Vegas and Miami).
• Scarcity value: there is no substitute for Formula 1 — no competitor can replicate its history, teams, driver talent pool, or governing-body relationship, making it a true natural monopoly within top-tier open-wheel racing.
• MotoGP integration upside: Liberty's ownership of MotoGP (first full year of combined reporting in 2025) provides a second, similarly structured motorsport franchise with its own long-duration rights and global audience.

Risks

• Discretionary entertainment spending: sponsorship and hospitality revenue are sensitive to corporate marketing budgets and could soften in a broader economic downturn.
• Key host/promoter concentration: race promotion revenue depends on individual host city/country contracts, which carry renewal and geopolitical risk (e.g., shifting race calendars, new venue negotiations).
• Regulatory/governance dependency: commercial rights ultimately flow from the FIA and FIM governing bodies; while the agreements run to 2110 and 2060 respectively, the relationship with these governing bodies still requires ongoing management.
• Complex corporate structure: the recent Liberty Live Split-Off and historical tracking-stock structure (three share classes — A, B, C) can create investor confusion and complicate cost-of-capital and capital-allocation analysis versus a simpler single-stock peer.
• Competition for the broader entertainment dollar: while Formula 1 itself has no direct substitute, it still competes against the Olympics, FIFA World Cup, and major football leagues for overall sponsorship and media-rights budgets.

6. Financial Overview

(MotoGP: 22 events, 18 countries, 2025 media rights 41.2% / race promotion 33.7% / sponsorship 12.7% of its revenue; not separately broken out in dollar terms above.)

7. Summary Conclusion

Formula One Group (Liberty Media Corporation, trading as Liberty Formula One under FWONA/FWONB/FWONK) holds one of the most durable moats of any company reviewed in this batch: century-long exclusive commercial rights to a globally scarce, growing motorsport franchise, diversified across race promotion, media, and sponsorship revenue streams that all carry multi-year escalating contracts. The December 2025 Liberty Live Split-Off simplified the corporate structure by removing the tracking-stock overlay, leaving Formula 1 (plus MotoGP and QuintEvents) as the sole business, and 2025's double-digit revenue and OIBDA growth confirm the franchise's continued commercial momentum.

Note: FWONA and FWONB represent different share classes (Class A and Class B common stock) of this identical Liberty Media Corporation / Formula One Group business and are not analyzed separately — see this FWONK write-up for the underlying business.