Liberty Media Corp Q2 FY2025 Earnings Call

Thank you, and good morning. Before we begin, we'd like to remind everyone that this call includes certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual events or results could differ materially due to a number of risks and uncertainties, including those mentioned in the most recent Forms 10-K and 10-Q filed by Liberty Media with the SEC. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this call, and Liberty Media expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to disseminate any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statement contained herein to reflect any change in Liberty Media's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based. On today's call, we will discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures for Liberty Media, including adjusted OIBDA. The required definition and reconciliation for Liberty Media Schedule 1 can be found at the end of the earnings press release issued today, which is available on our website. Speaking on the call today, we have Liberty President and CEO, Derek Chang; Liberty Chief Accounting and Principal Financial Officer, Brian Wendling; Formula One President and CEO, Stefano Domenicali; and MotoGP CEO, Carmelo Ezpeleta. Other members of management will be available to join for Q&A. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Derek.

Thank you, Shane. Good morning, everyone. It was an active second quarter at Liberty, which saw us progressing the initiatives we laid out to start the year. Regarding our planned split-off of Liberty Live, we filed the initial S-4 at the end of July and are now going through the customary review process. Chad Hollingsworth will be the CEO of Liberty Live Holdings once the split-off occurs. Chad is a Senior Vice President at Liberty, has been our Director of Live Nation since 2020, and is an agile person to oversee our investment. We expect to complete the split-off in the fourth quarter. Our next priority is supporting the growth and momentum at F1. The financial results were outstanding this quarter alongside a flurry of new sponsors announced, promoter partners extended, and media rights agreements signed. Stefano will provide greater detail shortly. And finally, we completed our acquisition of MotoGP on July 3. We are now beginning fulsome work in helping management set their strategic direction to enhance the company's growth. Fortunately, the sport and ecosystem are both in a strong position, providing the foundation to build on for future success. While it's early, I'd like to outline what we see as near- and medium-term priorities for MotoGP. Starting with near-term objectives. First, we want to accelerate the build-out of certain commercial functions, which was already in progress prior to the close. This includes sponsorship and marketing teams in areas like sales, account management, research, public relations, and social media strategy. Second, we will lean into brand positioning and build off the new MotoGP brand campaign that launched last November. Efforts will include developing a more robust fan insights platform, tracking brand awareness and engagement to better inform commercial propositions for new and existing partners. The team has already started new content initiatives with specific focus on the U.S. and U.K. markets. Third, we have begun collaborating with F1 to explore areas where we can accelerate business initiatives and share learnings. Some of these benefits will take time to materialize and be realized over the longer term. With respect to medium-term priorities, first, we intend to enhance the Grand Prix experience and turn each weekend into marquee events, very similar to the mandate in the early days of F1. This includes improving the hospitality offering and augmenting fan experiences on site as well as ample opportunities to deepen our partnership with Quint. Second, we will expand the sports global presence and broaden its appeal and reach. The MotoGP team has a clear focus on capturing new fans and growing outside the motorcycle racing world while maintaining its core traditional fans. They are already making progress in optimizing new race locations, including the recent announcement for a race in Buenos Aires in 2027, which strategically locates a track in an urban center as well as a return to Brazil next year after a two-decade absence. We plan to target the U.S. as a key growth market given its limited presence today. Third, we need to scale sponsorship partners as we know this has massive potential given the current heavy reliance on endemic names. Furthermore, there is clear low-hanging fruit like unsold title sponsorships or vacant trackside advertising. However, we are also mindful that sponsorship sales cycles can be long, and the team will manage for the quality of partners with clear brand alignment. In aggregate, while it is early days and will take time, we are very optimistic about the growth potential for MotoGP. One perspective on the potential opportunity is in reference to F1 on several engagement and financial metrics. For example, F1's audience in both race attendance and cumulative TV viewership is roughly double that of MotoGP, yet F1 monetizes its primary revenue streams at roughly 5 to 10 times those with sponsorship and hospitality at the high end of that range. These monetization opportunities will take time, but we believe there is significant potential to scale and grow the business. We'll look forward to updating you on our progress as these initiatives develop. Now I'd like to welcome Carmelo to make some remarks on MotoGP. I have gotten to know Carmelo and his team over the past few months and have tremendous respect for the sport that he has built. His passion is second to none, and I will now turn it over to Carmelo so you can hear it from him directly.

Good morning, and thank you, Derek. We are very excited that the transaction has closed, and we can now begin our partnership with Liberty Media. Liberty's track record with Formula One is well known, and the acquisition has already led to increased interest in our ecosystem. We look forward to benefit from Liberty's expertise as we continue to accelerate the sport's growth and expand its reach to a wider audience, growing value for our funds, teams, commercial partners, and investors. The 2025 season has been very strong. We have held 12 races through the first half of the season and have seen driving competition and great engagement from our fans. We have had five riders and four teams win and 11 riders across eight teams on the podium, including our spring races. The concession system in our sport is designed to drive more competition across the grid, giving lower ranking manufacturers more testing opportunities to improve their technology quicker. This new system, which was put in place last year, is clearly having a positive effect, which we expect to continue. Through the first half of the season, attendance is up 6% on a like-for-like race basis. Notably, Le Mans set the highest attendance ever from the MotoGP championship since records began in 1995 for the third year in a row. Looking at recent races, the Italian Grand Prix saw attendance up to 6% and set a new circuit attendance record and the Dutch and German Grand Prix achieved record attendance at their circuits for the second consecutive year. From a viewership perspective, we have 38.2 million average TV viewers through the first 12 races of the season, and engagement has been also very strong across digital channels, including our direct-to-consumer product, VideoPass. Social media followers reached almost 60 million, growing 6% year-over-year. Our new brand identity launched at the end of last year and our first ever season launch event that we hosted in February are resonating with fans as we continue to showcase MotoGP as a leading global media and entertainment brand. Our management team is looking forward to getting to know our investors and analysts audience over the coming quarters and to sharing our incredible sport with all of you. Now I would like to turn the call back to Derek.

Thanks, Carmelo. We are thrilled to have you and your team on board and are looking forward to further showcasing the MotoGP asset in due course. Now I'll turn it over to Brian for more on Liberty's financial results.

Thank you, Derek, and good morning, everyone. At quarter end, Formula One Group had attributed cash and liquid investments of $3.1 billion, which includes $1.8 billion of cash at Formula One and $70 million of cash at Quint. Total Formula One Group attributed principal amount of debt was $2.9 billion at quarter end, which includes $2.4 billion of debt at the OpCo level, leaving $525 million at the corporate level. F1's $500 million revolver is undrawn. The MotoGP acquisition closed on July 3. Liberty acquired 84% of MotoGP with management retaining a 16% ownership stake. Pro forma for the transaction, F1 OpCo had approximately $380 million of cash and $3.4 billion of debt, bringing pro forma leverage to 3.3x compared to 0.7x reported as of 6/30. Formula One Group Corporate had pro forma cash of approximately $480 million and no change to the debt balance. Shortly following transaction close, we launched a refinancing at MotoGP that is expected to close later in August. We priced approximately $230 million of new Term Loan A denominated in U.S. dollars, a new EUR 800 million Term Loan B, and a new EUR 100 million multicurrency revolver with future reductions in margin expected as the business delevers. This new capital structure will result in significantly reduced annual interest expense, extended maturities and a currency mix that better reflects the euro and U.S. dollar exposure of the business. Using June 30 balances, exchange rates as of that date, and pro forma for the refinancing transactions, the leverage ratio is 5.2x. In the near term, we expected to delever both at Formula One and MotoGP. Our goal is to delever to the 3 to 4x range of the MotoGP business by the end of 2026. Turning to the F1 business. I'll make some brief comments on the second quarter, but we'll focus primarily on year-to-date comparisons, which better reflect the state of the business given variability in quarterly race numbers and mix. A reminder that every quarter in 2025 will have a different race count and mix, which will impact quarterly comparisons. Most of the variability in Q2 year-over-year results is due to one additional race held in the mix of events in the second quarter compared to the prior year period. Q2 '25 held nine races compared to eight races in '24, with Bahrain and Saudi Arabia occurring in the current period compared to China in the prior year period. Year-to-date, though, through the second quarter, F1 had the same race count and mix year-over-year. The business is performing incredibly well with revenue up 14% and adjusted OIBDA up 21%. Revenue grew across all revenue streams with sponsorship, race promotion, and media rights continuing to benefit from new partners and underlying growth in the existing contracts. Media rights also continued to see strong F1 TV growth and recognized one-time revenue associated with the Apple F1 movie in the second quarter. Other revenue increased primarily driven by higher freight, hospitality, and licensing revenue, including the success of the new LEGO partnership. Adjusted OIBDA increased on a year-to-date basis with revenue growth outpacing increased expenses. Other costs of F1 revenue increased primarily due to higher freight costs from the mix of routes flown as well as higher hospitality costs, primarily driven by increased Paddock Club attendance and higher commissions and partner servicing costs, including increased costs to service new sponsorship agreements. SG&A expense increased year-to-date, primarily due to higher marketing and personnel expenses. Marketing expense was impacted by the O2 launch event that occurred during the first quarter and team payments increased due to the pro-rata recognition of expected higher team payments for the full year. Team payments as a percentage of pre-team share adjusted OIBDA were 58.4% year-to-date compared to 61.9% in the prior year period. A quick reminder that team payments should be analyzed on a full-year basis due to quarterly fluctuations in team payments as a percent of adjusted OIBDA. Reminder that team payments as a percent of pre-team share adjusted OIBDA were 61.5% for the full year '24, and we continue to expect to see leverage against the full year '24 percentage for the full year of 2025. Turning briefly to MotoGP's results. A reminder that since the transaction closed on July 3, MotoGP results will not be consolidated until the third quarter. All financial information for the business to date has been in Spanish GAAP, and we expect various U.S. GAAP adjustments, including the removal of straight-line revenue and cost recognition for multi-year contracts. Under U.S. GAAP, we expect growth rates for primary revenue streams with multi-year contracts to more closely approximate the annual escalators included in the contracts, absent the impact of significant renewals, which will differ from the relatively flat Spanish GAAP representation included in our financial disclosure to date. We expect to provide results for the full year 2024 in U.S. GAAP at year-end as part of our normal reporting. More information can be found in the information pack on MotoGP that was posted to our website at the time the acquisition closed and a table summarizing 6/30 year-to-date results in Spanish GAAP can be found in a trending schedule that will be posted to our website after the 10-Q is filed. MotoGP held 10 races in the 6-month period ended 6/30/25 compared to eight races in the prior year period. Spanish GAAP revenue and EBITDA were EUR 220 million and EUR 75 million, respectively, for the 6 months ended 6/30/25. Year-over-year comparisons are impacted by the mix of races as flyaway races in general carry a higher cost per race. For the full year 2025, we expect a normalized race calendar unlike 2024, which was impacted by several race cancellations. Note that the second half of the year contains a higher mix of races with greater profitability. The majority of MotoGP's revenue and costs are euro-denominated. Going forward, we intend to provide both U.S. dollar and euro-denominated growth rates to better portray underlying trends in the business. Lastly, looking briefly at the Corporate and Other results year-to-date. Revenue was $198 million, which includes Quint results and approximately $12 million of rental income related to the Las Vegas Grand Prix Plaza. Corporate and other adjusted OIBDA loss was $4 million, including Grand Prix Plaza rental income, Quint results, and corporate expenses. As a reminder, Quint's business is seasonal with the largest and most profitable events taking place in Q2 and Q4. Turning to the Liberty Live Group. There's attributed cash of $308 million and $400 million of undrawn margin loan capacity related to our Live Nation margin loan. As of August 6, the value of the Live Nation stock held at Liberty Live Group was $10.4 billion. We have $1.15 billion in principal amount of debt against these holdings. Liberty and F1 are in compliance with our debt covenants at quarter end. And with that, I'll turn it over to Stefano to discuss Formula One in more detail.

Thanks, Brian. It continues to be an incredible season as we head into a well-deserved summer break for our F1 community. We've witnessed a thrilling competition and on-track action that shows everything Formula One represents. Several drivers across the grid have stood on the podium this season, demonstrating the depth of talent across the grid. What is equally impressive is our competitive mid-field battles. Every single team down to 10th place has scored meaningful points this season. I'd like to take a moment to congratulate Nico Hülkenberg on achieving his first podium at Silverstone, a moment that perfectly captured the unpredictability and human stories that make F1 so captivating. Our fans are showing up in larger numbers than ever with impressive engagement across metrics. Attendance has been solid with nearly all events operating at capacity. 12 of the past 14 races sold out and 6 races set new attendance records, including Silverstone, welcoming close to 500,000 fans over the 4-day weekend. At the Paddock Club, we've sold 28,000 tickets season to date through Hungary. Early forecasts based on advanced partner requests are already indicating strong demand for 2026. Looking at TV viewership for the '25 season, nearly every race is showing healthy growth in year-over-year live viewership across F1 top 15 markets. Key large European markets have seen robust growth, including Germany, the U.K., and France as well as our non-European markets like the U.S., Australia, Canada, and Brazil. In the U.S., in particular, live viewership is up 7% season to date compared to last year, and ESPN has seen 7 races set viewership records for their events. Our additional race content is benefiting total viewership with live audiences for the Sprint race in Miami up to 25% year-over-year, attracting the largest U.S. audience for Sprint race since the format was introduced in 2021. Perhaps even more impressive is our traction on digital and social platforms. Viewership of F1 highlights on our YouTube channel grew 30% compared to last year, and over half of this audience is under 35. Our social media followers reached 106 million, growing over 20% year-over-year, primarily driven by TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. F1 remained the fastest-growing major sports property on social platforms. Driven by both an exciting season on track and cultural buzz around the F1 movie, F1 drew its largest reach ever on social media in the second quarter with over 20 billion total social impressions, growing over 100% compared to the second quarter of the last year. In June, the F1 movie was released to the world. The movie was the largest global opening weekend ever for a Brad Pitt film and was shown on more than 44,000 screens across 80 markets. In its first 5 weeks, the F1 movie saw global box office sales over $500 million, becoming the highest grossing Apple film to date. The film will be released on Apple TV later this year and will continue to strengthen fan engagement with our sport. It's worth emphasizing the scale of our total global fan base. As Nielsen reported earlier this year, the F1 fan base reached a record number of 826 million in 2024, 43% of these fans are under 35 and 42% of our fans are female, the highest share in F1 history for both segments. Additionally, we recently publicized results from a global fan survey conducted by Motorsport Network. 27% of the survey respondents were under 24 years old, and half of these were female. 75% of the fans who became interested in the sport in the last year were female. Importantly, for our commercial business, 1 in 3 fans are more likely to consider a purchase if it is from an F1 partner. We will continue to cultivate this fan base in creative ways to interact with Formula One race on non-race weekends alike. Growth in our fan engagement has translated to strong interest from commercial partners, generating continued financial strength. In our race promotion business, we renewed the Austrian Grand Prix through 2041 and the Canadian Grand Prix through 2035, reflecting the confidence our partners have in F1s value and growth trajectory. We also announced our '26 calendar. We are excited to welcome Madrid to the F1 family as a new race beginning next year, 2026 marks the final lap for Zandvoort, and we are tremendously grateful for all our promoter has done to delight fans since their return to the calendar in 2021. We look forward to welcoming one of the numerous interested nations and city to this slot in 2027 and beyond. The '26 calendar also advanced our continued improvement in the geographic flows of races with the Canadian Grand Prix now following Miami, driving expected freight efficiency and consolidating our European races into one unbroken run over the summer months. For Las Vegas Grand Prix, we are very happy with the progress made so far this year. Our ticket sales are trending ahead of last year, driven by higher sell-through rates. We have agreed to contract extension with all our founding partners and are working to secure long-term procurement contracts to reduce future build-out costs. We and our partners see the incredible value of this race as we continue to build it for long-term success. Turning into media rights, we are finalizing contracts in several regions, including Japan, Australia, Pan-Asia, Mexico, and Latin America. We continue to make progress on our U.S. media rights agreement and are confident in our attractive position in the U.S. market. Nielsen reported the American fan base grew over 10% to 52 million fans in 2024, and the U.S. remains our largest market on social. We continue to focus on securing the ideal partner to support our broader commercial strategy for continued growth in the U.S. market. In Brazil, we have secured a return to Globo TV for 2026, who previously held our rights for 40 years. This platform has the largest share of the total viewers in Brazil and commands over 50% of the free-to-air broadcasting market. Additionally, alongside our race promotion renewal in Canada, we also contracted a long-term extension to Bell Media's media rights deal. F1 TV continues to outperform our expectations, with especially robust growth in the U.S., UAE, Canada, Brazil, and Sweden and with the new premium tier offering seeing strong uptake. Our sponsorship was entering 2025 with high visibility into our pipeline, and I'm very pleased with the significant new partnership activity we have announced. MSC Cruises extended as our global partner through 2030, and we welcome Pepsi as an official partner, bringing their powerful portfolio, including Doritos, Gatorade, and Sting Energy into the F1 ecosystem. With this incredible success benefiting our 2025 results, our team is now focusing attention on our pipeline for 2026 and beyond. I'm confident in our progress on several high-value renewals and new partnerships that will drive continued growth. On our other revenue stream, looking first at the Paddock Club, we continue innovating our premium hospitality product, including leveraging key learnings from Las Vegas to diversify and enhance this experience. We were excited to announce House 44, a partnership with Lewis Hamilton, Soho House, and F1 that we launched at the Sixth Circuit this year, beginning in Silverstone. We believe there are additional innovative products to come. Licenses remain a continued area of focus and growth. F1's new partnership with Disney is the latest example of our effort towards F1's always-on strategy, bringing F1 into the lives and homes of our Fast Beyond 24 races a year. We will deliver a 360-degree licensing program with Mickey and friends across consumer product categories, retail, track side activation and experience and are thrilled to launch this partnership in 2026. Our LEGO partnership also continued to show strong growth and generate buzz on social. LEGO marketing activation hit over 21 billion in reach this year. Across our consumer product business, our partners sold 12 million units of product in Q1. In 2026, we will see a number of new licensed products launching across soft and hard lights. In experiential licensing, F1 Arcade globally welcomed over 200,000 guests through its door in the second quarter alone. The third year venue in Philadelphia opened at the end of May and Denver, Las Vegas, and Chicago will open in the fourth quarter. We are also pleased to report that the F1 exhibition has now surpassed 1 million tickets sold. Turning to Grand Prix Plaza. The new activation launched to the public in May capitalized on the F1 brand to promote the site as a primary destination in Las Vegas. The venue has welcomed visitors from 72 different countries since opening. We believe our karting operation is now the second highest grossing track in the country, exceeding 1,000 riders a day on the weekends with strong and growing revenue per person. It is, however, still early days and the overall revenue contribution is modest. And finally, we hope many of you saw our F1 75th motion activation, marking 75 years of F1 through a vintage-inspired premium pop-up at Luxury Retail Selfridges in London. Originally planned as a two-week activation, it was extended due to exceptional demand. Finally, on sustainability, in July, we published our 2025 update, highlighting our continued commitment to sustainable growth and progress to date. We achieved a 26% reduction in emissions in 2024 versus our 2018 baseline, ahead of internal expectations. This achievement is particularly noteworthy against the backdrop of more races and bigger events, demonstrating that we can grow sustainably while expanding our global footprint. As we look ahead, Formula One's momentum across every dimension of our business position us well for continued growth. The foundation we are building today will drive long-term value creation for all our partners and stakeholders. Avanti Tutta, full speed ahead. And now I will turn the call back over to Derek. Ciao. Thank you.

Thank you, Stefano, and thank you, Brian. Before going to Q&A, I want to remind you to save the date for this year's Liberty Media Investor Day. We will be hosting our Investor Day alongside the inaugural F1 Business Summit on Thursday, November 20, in Las Vegas in advance of this year's Grand Prix. We will have limited in-person attendance, but the Investor Day will be webcast. Stay tuned for more details. We appreciate your continued interest in Liberty Media. And now we would like to take questions.

Our first question comes from David Karnovsky with JPMorgan.

For Derek or Stefano, obviously, there's been a lot in the press on the U.S. media rights. Maybe you can update us on where things stand with the process. How are you thinking about priorities in terms of reach versus payment? And what role might F1 TV play?

Derek, if I may, I can start, if it's okay for you.

Yes, absolutely.

Thanks, David, for the question. I think that, as you said, I will start from the last of your remarks. F1 TV is and has to be, and it will be part of the package of what we are negotiating now into the future. This is absolutely relevant because as you have seen, David, the numbers are growing. There is an incredible opportunity for us to stay connected with our, let's say, fan base that is maturing and is growing in terms of attention and knowledge. And of course, the discussion we are having is in a good place because we believe that we are, as I said, in a very, very good opportunity to keep the momentum that is very strong in the U.S. And just I think yesterday, there was the indication that this year, we were over 1 million followers on the races in the U.S., which is really great. So we are progressing our negotiations. Of course, there are weeks in front of us. We are not in a great rush to finalize everything because we want to make sure that, as you said, we find the right solutions. One thing that I definitely can add is we are looking for, I would say, mid-term, not long-term, mid-term agreements because we believe that we are still in a position that our growth will have the chance even further to be negotiated better in the future. But everything is looking good, and the balance is definitely important, as you said, between reach and awareness. But we believe that everything is progressing according to our plan.

Thanks, Stefano. And I would just add that as we continue to look at the U.S. market, we are very pleased with the progress we've made over the last few years with the addition of the races that we have here and the engagement that we're seeing and look forward, and the fact that the business has been built in the U.S. and what that's doing to help promote and foster the sort of robust discussions that we're having and look forward to having this next deal take us into the future.

Okay. And then maybe just one on the Vegas Grand Prix, it would be great to hear a bit more about the on-sale process for the year, how the strategy of starting at a lower price point is playing out. And does that, plus what you could do on expense management, inform any view on the ultimate kind of contribution of the race to the financials for the year?

I can definitely say that Vegas is progressing very well according to our plan. In response to your question, we have made some significant changes from last year, which was the first year of this experience. We started with a clear price structure with no drop-downs, and this has been consistently reflected in the packages we sold. We believe that starting from this year, the contribution of the Vegas Grand Prix will be much more important than it has been in the first two years.

Yes, and I would just add a huge shout out to Stefano and the whole F1 team, the LVGP team because the amount of progress they've made this year has been pretty impressive as we've at the beginning of the year, talked about what needed to get done there, both on the expense side as well as the revenue side. And as Stefano talked about in his comments earlier, I think we've got the agreements in place with our partners in Las Vegas. I was just out there a couple of weeks ago, and I think the enthusiasm for where the race stands and where we're going with this thing is pretty palpable, and I think puts us in really good shape going forward.

Our next question is from Bryan Kraft with Deutsche Bank.

Brian, I was wondering if you could help us to quantify the contribution from the F1 movie to primary revenue so that we don't all end up overestimating the revenue that's going to be recurring? And then secondly, how will the MotoGP management team's 16% ownership be accounted for, both in terms of the income statement and the share count?

Yes. So on the F1 movie, think of it as a mid-teens number for the quarter that's one-time in nature on revenue. And then I'll answer your MotoGP question, but then I would kick it over to Stefano after that to really talk a bit more about the benefit of the F1 movie to the overall ecosystem. But quickly on MotoGP, the 16% will be accounted for as a non-controlling interest. So you'll see a big amount on our balance sheet above equity. And then we'll pick up 84% of the earnings of the business through the P&L. The other 16% will be allocated to non-controlling interest. Stefano, do you want to comment on the F1 movie?

Yes, absolutely. I mean thanks, Brian. And Brian, I would say the effect of the movie is not only about the dollars and the economic impact, but the sport will have an incredible opportunity to grow its awareness and to generate, I would say, the circular economy around that because it's a new product that has been incredibly strong. And actually, why we were, in a way, quite positive about the impact in the U.S. was fascinating to see the impact on the more mature markets. So these things will generate definitely interest and will definitely bring money to the ecosystem, to the teams, and to the F1 stakeholders. So that's really what we can see happening. If you think that after just a couple of weeks, the movie itself brought more than $500 million at the box office, it's something that keeps you the amount of interest that is generated. We don't have to forget that this movie will be out on the Apple platform later on at the end of the year. So that momentum will have a longer effect that will definitely create interest that can be monetized later on into the all the system that is around Formula One.

Our next question comes from Stephen Laszczyk with Goldman Sachs.

One on MotoGP and one on F1 from me. Maybe first on Moto, I think it's clear that you see a lot of opportunity to improve the reach and monetization of the sport. I think it's also pretty clear that you expect a period of investment and repositioning to play out over the next couple of years. So I would just be curious if there's maybe any early frameworks or thinking around how investors should expect the pace of investment to be matched against the pace of execution against the revenue opportunity and really what that means for the trajectory of profitability for the business over the next few years? Any thoughts or frameworks there, I think, would be helpful. And then a quick one just on hospitality at F1. You called out in the press release and I think in the prepared remarks, the strength you're seeing there. Is there any way to maybe elaborate more on the drivers and magnitude of that growth? And if we were to look at comparable GPs year-over-year in the quarter, what types of growth we're seeing from Paddock and hospitality?

Okay. This is Derek. I want to begin by addressing MotoGP. You're absolutely correct that there is significant potential in this area. While I'll let the team provide their insights, it's clear that many people are not familiar with the drivers or the sport itself. However, we do have a fantastic sport, and it provides a great foundation for us to build upon. Consequently, we see investment opportunities in MotoGP. Similar to F1, we plan to invest, although we don't expect it to be on a large scale. Our goal is to boost growth and explore the possibilities for doing so. I'll have Carlos Ezpeleta from MotoGP provide more detailed information on this, and then we can return to the hospitality question.

Thank you, Derek. Yes, we see growth primarily in two areas. The first is how to better monetize our current fan base and business. The second, where Liberty can play a significant role, focuses on expanding our fan base globally. This can be achieved through content, storytelling, and strategically developing different markets, all aimed at increasing our fan base. It's important to mention that we began investing in this area before Liberty Media came on board, hiring key roles in commercial and marketing, as well as in fan insights and research. These initiatives have started to show potential for business growth. However, we believe the main driver of growth will be expanding our global fan base. As Derek pointed out, we have numerous opportunities to showcase the sport and the riders, and we expect that to be the largest growth factor.

Great. Thanks, Carlos. I think as we come back to the question on hospitality, Stefano, if you want to give your thoughts on that, that would be helpful.

Absolutely. Thanks, Derek. Thanks, Stephen. I can confirm that the demand for our culture is very strong. We are ensuring that we have a variety of products to meet the needs of our partners and fans. The involvement of our incredible partners, who are activating their investments through hospitality packages, allows us to emphasize the importance of maintaining quality and to explore additional opportunities worldwide to expand our hospitality in line with the existing demand. This is crucial for us. We are actively negotiating and discussing with promoters to identify areas where we can increase quantity while maintaining the quality standards we desire. Over the past couple of years, we have been dedicated to ensuring our hospitality program provides unique entertainment experiences for fans attending events at the track. This distinctiveness has been recognized as setting us apart from other entertainment disciplines, and that is where our focus lies. Both quantity and quality will drive the offerings we present to our fans.

Yes. I mean a great example of that is this past weekend's race in Budapest, where they just unveiled a whole new Paddock Club facility, which is larger and certainly much more upgraded than previously, which speaks to both quantity and quality that Stefano just referenced.

Our next question comes from Ben Swinburne with Morgan Stanley.

One on MotoGP, and then I want to ask Stefano about sponsorship. I think the last disclosure we had from the deal deck, Brian or Derek, was back in, I think, 2023. I think it was about EUR 480 million. I'm just curious if you could talk about how the business has performed just from a top line perspective as you get through '24 and expectations for '25. I think you have more races this year than Moto was running in those couple of years, just to help us think about growth rates. And then, Stefano, in your prepared remarks, you talked about the sponsorship team focusing on '26. You sounded excited about the opportunities. I'm just wondering if you feel like you can keep the growth going in '26 at a healthy clip given what your team is seeing right now.

I will start and have Brian take the first question, then we'll pass it back to Stefano.

Yes, Ben, I recommend reviewing the information deck that we published on our website on the day the deal was closed. In that deck, you will find relevant details, though it's important to note that these figures are presented in Spanish GAAP, not U.S. GAAP, and are reported in euros. I've included several disclaimers regarding this information, which are also available in the deck, so please read them thoroughly. For 2023, we reported EUR 486 million, while in 2024, the figure was EUR 462 million. The race counts were consistent for both years, but there were cancellations that affected the expectations for 2024. Two of those races were substituted with lower fee events. You'll also find the OIBDA numbers included in the deck. There were some one-time bad debt amounts for 2024 that should be noted. Later today, we will post an information pack or trending schedule on our site, which will provide the year-to-date figures. Additionally, considering the results for the six months ending June 30, 2025, compared to June 30, 2024, remember that the mix of races can vary. In 2025, we had 10 races, along with 2 extra flyaway events, compared to 8 races in the previous year. The flyaways typically incur higher costs, and the profitability will depend on each event. However, we anticipate a better mix of profitability for the remaining races in the latter half of the year.

And then I'll turn it back over to Stefano for the question on sponsors.

Yes, thanks, Derek. I completely agree with your assessment. It's important to note that the momentum we're experiencing is likely to remain strong. We previously discussed the movie, which will showcase another aspect of our brand that will attract interest. As we evolve, we must ensure we maintain balance. We will continue our initial efforts to uphold quality and progress, allowing us to offer partners less visibility while increasing their investment through our differentiated categories. Our partnerships with brands like Barilla, Allwyn, LEGO, Pepsi, and LVMH have created an ecosystem that is generating further interest in additional categories that we are currently evaluating. One key area of focus is the betting category, which presents a significant opportunity that we must manage carefully, especially considering the varying legislative conditions across different markets. Another promising area for development is the consumer sector, which has not traditionally been a strong focus for F1. We are prioritizing this area to secure valuable deals not only for 2026 but also for the following years.

Our next question comes from Kutgun Maral with Evercore ISI.

I wanted to ask about the outlook for F1 race promotion and maybe just excluding Vegas. I know this year is relatively light, but it seems like you have a number of deals or extensions in 2026 that could really help accelerate growth over there, particularly thinking about Melbourne. So I wanted to see if you could expand on the opportunity you see over there.

Yes, Stefano, I can...

Sorry, sorry?

Go ahead. Go ahead.

Okay. Thank you, Derek. I would say, well, definitely, the positive trend that we see is definitely there because in all the possible opportunities that we have, we have more demand and/or we have the chance to, let's say, work together better with our partners in order to make sure that, as Derek was mentioning before, Hungary has proved to not only Europe, but all the markets that if a country believes in our sport, there is room for investment, room for the right investment for fans, and also the right fees that need to be recognized by the fact that F1 is the business cup for a country and for a culture. Therefore, there are opportunities in front of us. But the other good thing is that for the deals that we have extended with a quite significant term, it's benefiting the fact that there is a robust growth in the year to come in order to keep the financial opening to the race as minimum as possible. But definitely, for the windows that we have in front of us, there are huge opportunities because, as you know, we don't want to move forward in terms of number of races even if the request is higher than what we can offer.

The conversations that Stefano and his team have with prospective promoters out there, it's a pretty healthy group of folks that are always coming in to have discussions. We clearly have certain limitations as it relates to the calendar. But I think as we continue to scope it out in the future, there will be options as we move forward.

Our next question comes from Peter Supino with Wolfe Research.

I'm thinking about the profit recovery potential in Las Vegas. If memory serves, you have about $600 million of capital invested in Las Vegas PP&E. And understanding and appreciating that the LVGP has benefited the entire sport, is that original capital investment something on which Liberty realistically expects to earn a stand-alone return on capital that's better than your WACC?

Yes. Our goal is certainly to earn a return on that investment. As you've pointed out, we are focusing less on the stand-alone economics of Las Vegas. As Vegas continues to grow and mature, and as we collaborate with our partners in that market, we see benefits to the overall ecosystem, many of which are very tangible. Overall, we do aspire to earn a return on that investment.

Our next question comes from Joe Stauff with Susquehanna.

I wanted to ask if there's anything you could share with us on MotoGP and just, say, the expiration schedule for the existing race promoter contracts that you have? And then the second question is on the new race promoter contracts within F1 you announced in Canada and Austria. Is there any sense you can give us on kind of like the average growth that you'll realize over the period? Or any delta you can share with us, please?

Yes, this is Derek. Regarding the first question about race promotion at MotoGP, I will let Carlos provide more details shortly, but there is a regular schedule of renewals for our new races that we announced earlier today. This includes the Buenos Aires race and the one in Brazil, which is returning. Now, I will pass it over to Carlos for more information.

Thank you, Derek. Regarding promoters, we are pleased to report that this area is currently one of the most significant growth sectors for the sport. There is substantial interest from new countries looking to join the calendar, and we do have availability despite our agreement with the teams limiting us to a maximum of 22 races. Currently, we have four races in Spain, two in Italy, and other events that could potentially be replaced to accommodate new markets. This year, we have announced that Buenos Aires will be added to the MotoGP calendar starting in 2027, and Brazil will be returning after a two-decade hiatus. Both of these new races will bring significant increases in revenue compared to the events they are replacing. Additionally, we have secured renewals with events in Spain and France, with considerable increases in fees. There is clearly a strong demand from new countries wanting to participate. Alongside our partnership with Liberty, we need to strategically manage our calendar to make space for new markets or to enhance our presence in existing ones. As a result, the pace of contract renewals is increasing, with countries and promoters eager to expand their agreements, which usually last five years, but some are extending to ten years.

Great. Thanks, Carlos. I think on the F1 question with respect to the two recent renewals, we're not getting into the details of what those renewals are. But that being said, both of these are important markets for the F1 calendar and also bring other components to it, including the media rights renewal in Canada, but I'll let Stefano articulate that in a bit more detail.

Thanks, Derek. I want to reassure you, Joe, that the changes are definitely positive, both in terms of financial contributions and for the ecosystem as well. Each Grand Prix has unique factors to consider. For instance, promoters need to acknowledge the significant impact of Red Bull's investment in the F1 ecosystem, which is quite evident. Canada has always been a key market for Formula One, but they also needed to invest to create the right conditions for growth. The new facilities, expanded Paddock Club opportunities, and additional grandstands for fans will enhance profitability for both the promoters and us as the commercial rights holder. Everything is being taken into account, recognizing that each situation is different. Overall, there is strong support for our approach because stakeholders see the benefits for themselves as well. We create business opportunities wherever we operate, generating interest and highlighting what lies behind the races. It's not just about the event itself; it's about engaging with the ecosystem to foster technological inspiration and achieve what each country seeks by hosting a Grand Prix. Overall, the changes are certainly positive wherever we go.

Our last question comes from Ryan Gravett with UBS.

With the MotoGP deal closed and the split coming, I was just wondering if you could provide an update on capital allocation plans and priorities from here. I know you talked about getting to 3 to 4x at MotoGP, but how should we think about the right target leverage at the F1 OpCo level and just your general thoughts on share repurchases.

Yes, thanks for the question. As you mentioned, we are currently reducing our leverage. Once we reach a comfortable leverage level, we will continue to explore opportunities in the market, which has always been part of Liberty's strategy. However, when it comes to M&A, we will maintain a high standard and remain disciplined in our evaluations and potential investments. This will evolve as we move forward, and it is certainly a topic we will keep discussing.

Our next question comes from Steven Cahall with Wells Fargo.

I have a couple of questions. First, regarding F1 TV, have you evaluated your subscriber base? It appears that some are super fans while others might be more casual viewers, with some possibly fitting into both categories. As you consider the possibility of partnering with a streaming service for certain rights, are you concerned about the risk of cannibalization among casual viewers who might find the same content through their existing subscriptions? Secondly, concerning competitive balance, could you provide updates on the Concorde agreement? This season, we've observed that 6 out of 10 teams are not seriously competing for championships or podium finishes. Is there anything in the new Concorde agreement that might help address this imbalance moving forward? I understand you have implemented some financial controls, but it seems that the desired competitive effect has not yet materialized on the track.

Yes, I'll start. Stefano, I will pass it to you since I know you enjoy discussing competitive balance. Regarding the first question about streaming platforms and F1 TV, the reality is that in our current landscape, it's not simply one option or the other. The goal is to make our offerings available to consumers and fans wherever they choose to engage. It's essential to provide our content in as many accessible locations as possible for consumers and fans. With that, I'll pass it to Stefano.

Thanks, Derek. Regarding competitive balance, Steven, it's important to consider F1 over multiple seasons. For instance, two years ago, McLaren, which is now leading the championship, finished last in the opening Grand Prix. The changes made with the budget cap and the reduced wind tunnel time for winning teams are having an impact. The differences between teams have never been smaller. Therefore, I’m not concerned about these dynamics. I believe the model we've established in the Concorde is fair, taking into account many variables to avoid any perceptions of unfairness. The more successful teams can earn more money, but on the sporting side, we aim to create engaging content through our regulations to keep the competition tight. This is a collaborative effort that we need to maintain with the FIA on both sides.

Our last question comes from David Joyce with Seaport Research Partners.

I wanted to ask about MotoGP. You've already mentioned the race promotion schedule, but could you clarify the usual length of the media rights contracts and what might be set to expire in the next 12 to 18 months? Additionally, regarding sponsorship, I recognize that this is a significant area for growth. What are the typical contracts in that space, and how do renewals typically work?

Thanks for the question. As we are thinking about both of those categories, they're clearly important pillars of our revenue and our growth. And as I think Carlos, we spoke about earlier in terms of sponsorship and sort of that area, we do see a huge amount of opportunity there. We do think it's a long build just because we've got to sort of tell the story, get the potential sponsors and people bought into what we are, what we can do for them. And just like we saw with F1, that will be something that happens over time. On the media rights, we do have a variety of deals coming up, as you might imagine, over the course here in the next several years. I will let Dan speak about that in a little bit more detail. But again, I think the goal there is probably to broaden the reach and continue to sort of build the brand of MotoGP and in the consciousness of the general market. So that's sort of where we're pushing. But Dan, why don't you take that? Dan Rossomondo, Chief Commercial Officer at MotoGP.

Thanks, Derek, and David, thank you for the question. I'll begin with the media aspect first. The great thing about our sport is its global nature, which means we need to remain relevant and secure the right media agreements in various countries. Wherever we go, our goal is to establish the best and most comprehensive distribution channels. As Derek mentioned, our deals follow different cycles. Additionally, it's crucial to adapt to the evolving habits of today's consumers, including where and how they watch content. We are continually exploring new distribution methods and aim to maintain flexibility in our agreements to accommodate these changes. Regarding sponsorship, we see it as a significant growth area. Our investment in brand identity and our business analytics and marketing teams over the past year was focused on telling better stories and attracting new brands to our ecosystem. We have a range of industry-specific partners and some excellent non-endemic ones, but we must strengthen this aspect of our business. Our objective is to become more appealing to brands that want to engage with us, helping them to understand our riders better. We aim to secure long-term partnerships with sponsors that share our vision and are strong marketers, enabling them to assist us in expanding our business and drawing in even more fans. That’s our current focus.

Thank you, Dan. And I think that's our last question. I want to thank and welcome Carmelo and Carlos and Dan. Thank you guys for your participation. Thanks, Stefano, and thank you to everyone who joined the call today. We appreciate it and look forward to speaking again soon.

This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and we thank you for your participation.