Bid to buy MotoGP rejected which was €200m more than Liberty’s offer

A bid to buy MotoGP which was worth €200m more than Liberty Media’s offer was reportedly rejected.

The rejected bid came from the TKO Group, who count Ultimate Fighting Championship and World Wrestling Entertainment as the major attractions under their banner, according to the Financial Times.

Private equity firm Bridgepoint instead sold Dorna Sports, who owned MotoGP, to Liberty for €4.2bn including debt.

Liberty are also the owners of Formula 1 meaning they now have the world’s top car and motorcycle racing series.

But TKO were left frustrated that their bigger offer was knocked back.

“We know that our bid was worth €200m more than the Liberty bid,” CEO Ari Emanuel told the Financial Times.

Bridegpoint did not dispute the value of TKO’s bid to the Financial Times.

However, ‘a person close to the deal’ was quoted as saying Emanuel and TKO were “culturally not a good fit”.

‘A person close to TKO’ was quoted in response, claiming Bridgepoint “failed in its fiduciary duty not only to its LPs [limited partners] but to its shareholders in the public market”.

Liberty must seek regulatory approval to complete their purchase of MotoGP.

Chief executive Greg Maffei insists they are confident of achieving this.

The doubt comes from a 2006 European Commission ruling which stopped the same owner from owning F1 and MotoGP over concerns that broadcasters would be disadvantaged when negotiating TV rights.

Liberty argue that the media market has changed significantly since 2006, and they plan to keep MotoGP and F1 as separate entities.

“We’re going to keep the company independent,” Maffei said.

“We’re certainly not going to be trying to merge and sell the product in the TV market as one.”