In 1974, the Formula One Constructors' Association (FOCA) was founded to increase commercial organisation of Formula One for the benefit of the racing teams. In 1978, Bernie Ecclestone became the executive of FOCA and fought the Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile (FISA) for control of the sport's commercial rights. The disputes were settled by March 1981, when the first Concorde Agreement gave FOCA the right to negotiate television contracts — rights that under previous arrangements had been considered risky and not very lucrative.
When the second Concorde Agreement was agreed in 1987, Ecclestone ceased being a team owner and established Formula One Promotions and Administration (FOPA) to manage television rights for the teams. FOPA received 49% of TV revenues, with 50% going to the FIA and 1% to the teams. FOPA also received all fees paid by race promoters and distributed prize money to the teams. FOPA would later become known as Formula One Management (FOM). The third Concorde Agreement was signed in 1992.
When the fourth Concorde Agreement was signed in 1995, the FIA decided to grant the commercial rights of Formula One to Formula One Administration (managed by FOM) for a 14-year period, in exchange for an annual payment from Ecclestone. Teams including McLaren, Williams, and Tyrrell protested the following Concorde Agreement in 1997 because FOM held exclusive rights to their popular team names. A compromise was reached and a new Concorde Agreement was signed by all teams in 1998.
McLaren, Williams, Ferrari, and Renault formed GPWC Holdings and threatened to form a rival racing franchise in 2008 when their contracts ended in 2007.
SLEC Holdings was created as the holding company of the Formula One companies in 1996 when Ecclestone transferred his ownership of Formula One businesses to his wife, Slavica, in preparation for a 1997 flotation of the group.
In June 1999, the European Commission announced it would investigate the FIA, Formula One Administration, and International Sportsworld Communicators (ISC) — owned by Ecclestone — for abusing dominant position and restricting competition. ISC had signed a 14-year agreement with the FIA in 1996 for the exclusive broadcasting rights for 18 FIA championships.
In October 1999, Morgan Grenfell Private Equity (MGPE) acquired 12.5% of SLEC for £234 million. In February 2000, Hellman and Friedman purchased a 37.5% share of SLEC for £625 million and combined its share with MGPE's to form Speed Investments, holding 50% of SLEC. On 22 March 2000, German media company EM.TV & Merchandising purchased Speed Investments for £1.1 billion.
EM.TV's acquisitions caused it financial difficulties; its share price dropped 90% after the company announced its 2000 earnings would be below expectations. The Kirch Group agreed to rescue EM.TV, taking control of Speed Investments. To raise Speed Investments' share of SLEC to 75%, Kirch borrowed €1.6 billion — €1 billion from Bayerische Landesbank (BayernLB) and the rest from Lehman Brothers and JPMorgan Chase. Kirch's involvement raised concerns among major automobile manufacturers participating in Formula One; BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Fiat, Ford, and Renault formed GPWC Holding BV to secure better representation, improved financial conditions, stability for the championship, and maintenance of free-to-air television coverage.
Due to huge losses and massive expenditure, Kirch's creditors put the company into receivership in 2002. Kirch's share of SLEC was retained by BayernLB, JPMorgan Chase, and Lehman Brothers. Ecclestone instituted changes in the boards of SLEC, FOH, FOA, and FOM that in effect put Bambino Holdings in control of those companies.
In mid-November 2004, the three banks sued Ecclestone for more control over the sport. On 6 December 2004, Justice Andrew Park ruled in Speed's favour, though Ecclestone insisted the verdict would mean "nothing at all" and announced his intention to appeal. The following day at a meeting of team bosses at Heathrow Airport, Ecclestone offered the teams a total of £260 million over three years in return for unanimous renewal of the Concorde Agreement.
In November 2005, CVC Capital Partners announced it would acquire the 25% and 48% shares held by Bambino and BayernLB in SLEC, with the JPMorgan Chase share acquired in December 2005. The deal was approved by the European Commission on 21 March 2006 and finalised on 28 March. On 30 March 2006, CVC purchased the 14.1% share held by Lehman Brothers, giving CVC a majority ownership of 63.4% in the Formula One Group. The deputy team principal of Force India, Bob Fernley, accused CVC of "raping the sport" during the period of its involvement.
The Formula One Group planned an initial public offering on the Singapore Stock Exchange in June 2012, valuing the company at $10 billion. However, the flotation was delayed until October 2012, with Ecclestone citing volatile markets and problems in the Eurozone, and was ultimately kept on hold throughout 2012.
In late 2016, Liberty Media agreed to buy controlling interest in the Formula One Group for $4.4 billion (£3.3 billion). The deal was approved by regulators and completed on 23 January 2017. Chase Carey subsequently became chief executive of the Group and Ross Brawn was appointed to the newly created role of managing director, Motor Sports. In September 2020, former Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali was announced as the new chief executive. On 28 November 2022, Brawn confirmed he was retiring from Formula One.
The Formula One Group is listed on the Nasdaq as a tracking stock under the tickers FWONA and FWONK.
In 2025, Liberty Media acquired the majority of Dorna Sports — and with it the commercial rights of MotoGP and Superbike World Championship — and placed it into the Formula One Group.
The Formula One Group was controlled by its shareholders through the Delta Topco holding company, which through a number of holding companies registered in the United Kingdom, Jersey, and Luxembourg controls SLEC Holdings. The group comprises several subsidiary companies:
Formula One World Championship Limited (FOWC) holds the commercial rights to Formula One for a period of 100 years from the FIA. FOWC negotiates the contracts for hosting F1 Grands Prix, organises television contracts with broadcasters, and receives licensing fees. It also has a seat on the FIA World Motor Sport Council. FOWC took over the rights from sister company Formula One Administration (FOA) at the beginning of 2011, which had held them for a 14-year period beginning in 1996.
Formula One Management (FOM) is the main operating company, controlling the broadcasting, organisation, and promotional rights of Formula One. FOM produces the televised feeds of all Grand Prix sessions, which are then supplied through the Eurovision satellites network (EBU) to broadcasters. Its production arm is based at Biggin Hill Airport, London. FOM also provides partial investment for new tracks and teams, structures the season calendar (with WMSC oversight), and handles logistics for moving equipment and personnel to races outside Europe. Payments to teams are determined by the Concorde Agreement, which gives teams 50% of the television money in Constructors' Championship order.
Formula One Licensing BV is a Dutch-registered company that owns the trademarks of Formula One, including the F1 logo, "Formula 1", "Formula One", "F1", and the intro design shown before Grand Prix broadcasts.
Allsport Management S.A. is a Swiss-registered company based in Geneva that manages the sale of nearly all Formula One trackside advertising and the Formula One Paddock Club. It was founded by Paddy McNally, who developed "themed advertising" — giving one advertiser total exposure at one part of the track. The Monaco Grand Prix is the only Grand Prix where Allsport is not involved. Allsport Management and the related Allsopp Parker & Marsh companies were acquired by CVC through Delta Topco in 2006.
Formula Motorsport Limited (FML), formerly GP2 Motorsport Limited, was acquired by CVC in 2007. FML runs various Formula One feeder series, which typically run races at the European rounds of the F1 championship. The Formula One Group also owns the rights to the "GP1" name.
MotoGP Sports Entertainment Group (MotoGP SEG) is a motorsport promotion company based in Madrid, Spain, responsible for promoting MotoGP and Superbike World Championship. The company was acquired by Liberty Media in 2025.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.