Q1 2025 Liberty Media Corp Earnings Call

In This Article:

Participants

Shane Kleinstein; Senior Vice President, Head of Investor Relations; Liberty Media Corp

Derek Chang; President & Chief Executive Officer; Liberty Media Corp

Brian Wendling; Principal Financial Officer, Chief Accounting Officer; Liberty Media Corp

Stefano Domenicali; President & Chief Executive Officer, Formula One Group; Liberty Media Corp

Stephen Laszczyk; Analyst; Goldman Sachs

Ben Swinburne; Analyst; Morgan Stanley

Kutgun Maral; Analyst; Evercore ISI

Peter Supino; Analyst; Wolfe Research, LLC

Steven Cahall; Analyst; Wells Fargo

Ryan Gravett; Analyst; UBS

Joe Stauff; Analyst; Susquehanna International Group, LLP

Spencer Amer; Analyst; Deutsche Bank

Jason Bazinet; Analyst; Citigroup

Matthew Harrigan; Analyst; The Benchmark Company

Presentation

Operator

Welcome to Liberty Media Corporation's 2025 Q1 earnings call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference will be recorded, May 7. I would now like to turn the call over to Shane Kleinstein, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Shane Kleinstein

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 statements 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 reconciliations for Liberty Media Schedule 1 can be found at the beginning -- at the end of the earnings press release issued today, which is available on Liberty Media's website.
Speaking on the call today, we have Liberty's President and CEO, Derek Chang; Liberty's Chief Accounting and Principal Financial Officer, Brian Wendling; Formula One's President and CEO, Stefano Domenicali, and other members of Liberty Management will be available for Q&A. I'd like to turn the call over to Derek.

Derek Chang

Great. Thank you, Shane. Good morning, everyone. It has been a great start to the year at Liberty. Importantly, the priorities we have outlined for 2025 are progressing well.
Namely, number one, we are working towards the close of the Dorna acquisition; two, continuing our path towards structural simplification; and three, we continue to drive momentum at Formula One.
Starting first with the Dorna acquisition. We are progressing with the Phase 2 regulatory process and working constructively with the European Commission. We hope to receive approval by the long stop date of June 30, 2025. The MotoGP kicked off 2025 with its first Upper season launch event in Bangkok. The event generated massive buzz bringing together all 11 teams to showcase Moto GP as a thrilling sport and premium entertainment brand.
MotoGP will host a 22 race calendar in 2025 compared to 20 races last year, which was impacted by race cancellations necessitating two replacement races scheduled mid-season.
The season is off to a great start with incredible on-track action and growth independence across the first five races completed to date. The Argentina Grand Prix set a new attendance record for the track with over 200,000 spectators.
Thailand's attendance was up 15%, and Coda hosted its largest crowd since 2018, and the rest saw highest attendance since 2015 with 24% growth over 2023. The company announced several commercial agreements to start the season, including Pirelli as the new tire supplier starting in 2027 and the extensions of the Barcelona, French, and Valentia GPs through 2031.
Our second priority is continuing to progress our structural simplification, including the planned split off of it live. Our third priority is continuing to drive momentum at Formula One. The confluence of F1 racing and commercial momentum is benefiting engagement and financial results in 2025. There are several areas currently in focus worth highlighting.
We are seeing continued momentum in sponsorship and licensing to start the year, an excellent showcase with the LEGO partnership last weekend in Miami, where all 10 teams rode fully drivable LEGO F1 cars at the Drivers Parade.
The project took over a year to come to life and required 400,000 LEGO brakes per car. It was an amazing collaboration that captivated our fans and the Internet and our drivers love it. Looking ahead, pulling the sponsorship pipeline forward has allowed our team to focus on 2026 and beyond and emphasize securing blue-chip meetings aligned with the F1 brand. The appeal and breadth of the F1 brand are uniquely resonating with sponsors across B2B and consumer brands alike.
Second, we are focusing on improving LVGP stand-alone economics and maximizing the overall benefit to the F1 ecosystem. Tickets went on sale in early April and volumes are trending ahead of this time last year. Lower initial ticket prices are driving momentum, which we expect will drive greater sell-through.
With the first two years having demonstrated clear benefits to the wider Vegas ecosystem, we are engaged in encouraging discussions with key local stakeholders, to ensure their support and best position the event for future growth. Finally, our current US media rights agreement concluded at the end of 2025, and we are in active and productive discussions for a new deal.
F1 is a strong product for broadcasters with solid growth in the US, including this season and an attractive demographic with one-third of viewers under age 35, females representing 42% of the fans. We remain focused on finding the right partner to continue to innovate on broadcast offerings and sustain our momentum in the US.
While it's early in the year, performance today is strong. The contractual nature of that Formula One's cash flow provides high visibility into our business performance for the next several years and will be especially important in this macroeconomic climate.
As of March 31, Formula One had $14.2 billion of future revenue secured under contract. Advanced ticket sales for our promoters and hospitality tickets for the remainder of the season remains strong. We continue to actively monitor changes in consumer sentiment, though historically, Formula One's business model has proven resilient in times of economic uncertainty. We are encouraged by the strength of the business and look forward to completing the rest of an exciting season. Now, I'll turn it over to Brian for more on Liberty's financial results.