Formula One GroupFWONANASDAQ
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Operator: Hello, and welcome to Liberty Media Corporation's 2025 Year-end Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference will be recorded February 26. I would now like to turn the call over to Hooper Stevens, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Hooper Stevens: Thank you, Kevin. Thanks, everyone, for joining us today on Liberty Media's Fourth Quarter and Year-end 2025 Earnings Call. This call today 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 Form 10-K followed 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 our 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, constant currency for MotoGP, the required definitions and reconciliations for Liberty Media can be found on Schedule 1 and MotoGP or Schedule 2 at the end of the earnings press release issued today, which is available on Liberty Media's IR website. Speaking on today's call, we have Liberty Media's President and CEO, Derek Chang; Liberty's Chief Accounting and Principal Financial Officer, Brian Wendling; Formula One's President and CEO, Stefano Domenicali; MotoGP CEO, Carmelo Ezpeleta and other members of management will be available for Q&A. With that, I'll hand the call over to Derek.
Derek Chang: Morning. Thank you, Hooper. And before I start, I just want to welcome Hooper to our team. This is his first earnings call for Liberty. Many of you know, Hooper already, he has obviously been part in and around the Liberty Complex, but we are very, very happy to have him with us here. It has been an exceptionally productive and successful year for Liberty. We are energized by the slower progress we've built across our businesses and are focused on accelerating our momentum this year. We have delivered against each of the priorities we articulated last year, namely one to continue F1's growth trajectory; two, to augment our portfolio with the acquisition of MotoGP; and three, to execute the Liberty Live split-off. Following the split-off last December, we are now a premier global sports investment vehicle anchored by 2 world-class motor sport leagues and operating in an industry supported by strong secular growth tailwinds. Looking ahead to this year, operational excellence at MotoGP and F1, while remaining disciplined and opportunistic with our capital to drive value for our shareholders and across our portfolio. Turning now to our operating businesses. At MotoGP, we see tremendous upside over time and are in the early stages of unlocking that potential. We don't expect to see these investments bear fruit immediately, but are laying the necessary groundwork to drive this sport forward. Since closing the acquisition last July, we've continued building on our commercial functions. We hired key personnel across sales, public relations, social media strategy with more additions to come. We're focused on driving knowledge sharing between MotoGP and F1 and believe this can support long-term value over time. I just recently returned from our Partner Summit in Barcelona, where we clearly articulated our strategy to teams, promoters and partners across the ecosystem. The enthusiastic response was a very positive sign as we build share momentum with a strong collective commitment to the future of our sport. For Moto, our 3 key priorities are: first, we remain focused on strengthening MotoGP's foundation and expanding its global footprint. We recently announced we are moving our Australia race to Adelaide, marking our first modern era circuit in a city center and we are excited to return to Brazil this year after a 20-year hiatus and look forward to adding Buenos Aires to the calendar next year, strengthening our presence in major international cities. Second, we remain focused on elevating the Grand Prix experience into a must intend event at every circuit. We continue to further enhance our hospitality offerings and improve the on-site fan experience. Finally, this work underpins our efforts to unlock our brand value to scale the sponsorship roster. We remain disciplined in our approach to sponsorship and are prioritizing brand alignment with high-quality partners over near-term wins. Now turning to F1. F1 once again delivered an exceptional year with the sport firing on all cylinders across growth, engagement and commercial momentum. We renewed with multiple long-term existing partners, we signed several new marketing partners, including Standard Chartered, our official wealth management and banking sponsor. As you saw earlier this morning, we just announced our broadcast extension with beIN in the Pan Asia region. And earlier this week, we announced the extension of our ESPN partnership in Latin America. Our third year of the Las Vegas Grand Prix was a resounding success and our relationship with the Las Vegas community has never been stronger. Importantly, we finalized the new Concorde Agreement to cover the 5 years from 2026 which provides us with durable financial economics in all F1 constituencies and constituents a stable base to invest into the sport and drive long-term value creation and an even healthier ecosystem. And 2026 should be an exciting season on track with Cadillac and Audi joining the grid. The new brands, cars and engines should lead to an incredibly competitive racing season ahead. Stefano and Carmelo will both provide more updates on their businesses later in the call. We look forward to continuing to support their strategic vision. Now I'll turn it over to Brian for more on Liberty's financial results.
Brian Wendling: Thank you, Derek, and good morning, everyone. At year-end, Liberty Media had cash and liquid investments of $1.1 billion, which includes $539 million of cash at F1 and $197 million of cash at MotoGP. Total Liberty Media principal amount of debt was $5 billion at year-end, which includes $3.4 billion of debt at F1, and $1.2 billion of debt at MotoGP, leaving $499 million at the corporate level. F1's $500 million revolver in MotoGP's EUR 100 million revolver are both undrawn. At year-end, F1 OpCo net leverage was 2.8x. This is down from 3.3 that we gave at 6/30 pro forma for the MotoGP acquisition. And MotoGP's net leverage was 4.7x at year-end, down from 5.6x at 9/30. We expect to continue delevering at MotoGP this year. Liberty Media's overall net leverage was 3.6x. Turning to the F1 business. I'll make some brief comments about the fourth quarter but focus on full year comparisons primarily. A reminder that every quarter in 2025 had incomparable race count and mix. 2026 will also have incomparable race count and mix except for the fourth quarter. Majority of the variability in Q4 year-over-year results is due to one more race being held in fourth quarter compared to the prior year period. Q4 '25 had 7 races compared to 6 races in Q4 '24, with Singapore being included in the current year period but not the prior year period. Note that we operated the same number of Paddock Clubs during the fourth quarter, given that the Singapore Paddock Club is operated by the local promoter. For the full year, the business performed exceptionally well. Revenue grew 14% and adjusted OIBDA grew 20%, driven by growth across all revenue streams. Sponsorship revenue continues to increase from new partners and underlying growth and contractual increases. Media Rights revenue grew due to underlying growth in contracts, continued growth in F1 TV and the onetime benefit of the F1 movie revenue that was recognized in the second quarter. Race promotion revenue increased due to underlying growth in contracts. Other revenue grew primarily driven by higher hospitality and growth in licensing and freight income. Higher hospitality revenue includes revenue from the Las Vegas Grand Prix, and also revenue generated at Grand Prix Plaza from its growing private events business and the various new activations we opened in May of last year. Touching briefly on the Las Vegas Grand Prix. As Derek mentioned, our third year operating the race was a success, and we saw improved financial performance year-over-year. We continue to see a material benefit accruing from LVGP to the broader F1 ecosystem across various revenue streams, especially sponsorship, hospitality and licensing. Vegas continues to serve as a very successful test bed for product expansion and is integral to the continued growth of our sport in the U.S. Adjusted OIBDA increased during the year, driven by the strong revenue growth discussed above, outpacing increased operating and SG&A expenses. Higher operating expenses included higher team payments, and increased expenses associated with servicing our revenue streams. The increase in SG&A and -- the SG&A expenses was due to higher personnel and marketing costs. Team payments as a percent of pre-team share adjusted OIBDA were 59.7% for the full year 2025, representing 185 basis points of leverage against 2024. Over the past 4 years, we've seen an average of roughly 200 basis points improvement in leverage each year, and we expect 2026 to be approximately in line with this average. After 2026, for the remainder of the term of the new Concorde Agreement out to 2030, we expect the payout percentage to remain relatively stable. A reminder that team payments are best analyzed on a full year basis due to quarterly fluctuations in team payments as a percent of adjusted OIBDA. Looking quickly at MotoGP's results. As a reminder here, we closed the MotoGP acquisition on July 3. Our financial results are presented on a pro forma basis as though the transaction occurred on January 1, 2024, and the trending schedule will be posted to our website after the 10-K is filed including results in U.S. GAAP for the full year '24 on a pro forma basis. The majority of MotoGP's revenue costs are euro denominated and as such, are subject to translational impacts from foreign exchange fluctuations. In the following discussion, I'll focus primarily on constant currency results. Similar to F1, I'll make a few comments about the fourth quarter, but we'll primarily focus on the full year. Year-over-year comparisons are impacted by the mix of races, and generally, MotoGP flyaway races carry higher costs, which includes freight, travel and higher earth fees. MotoGP held 5 races in the fourth quarter of both this year and the prior year. Revenue increased at MotoGP during the fourth quarter as increased race promotion fees due to the race mix and contractual uplifts were offset primarily by lower proportionate recognition of season-based income with revenue from 5 out of 22 races being recognized this year versus by about 20 races recognized last year. For the full year, MotoGP had 22 races compared to 20 and 2024. Revenue grew across all primary revenue streams, primarily due to the 2 additional races held and contractual fee increases. Media Rights revenue also increased due to growth in VideoPass subscription revenue and other revenue benefited from increased hospitality revenue, which saw 2 additional races and increased attendance, partially offset by a decrease in fees related to MotoE. Adjusted OIBDA grew for the year driven by the higher revenue, offset by growth in operating expenses. SG&A expenses were lower, primarily driven by recognizing less bad debt expense in 2025 compared to the prior year. Note that bad debt expense in '24 was primarily related to race cancellations from years prior to 2024. Looking briefly at Corporate and Other results for the year, revenue was $414 million. This includes Quint results up until the split off on December 15 and approximately $33 million of rental income related to Grand Prix Plaza. Corporate and other adjusted OIBDA was $5 million and includes Quint results up until split off, Grand Prix Plaza rental income and corporate expenses. As a reminder, Quint business is seasonal with the largest and most profitable events taking place in Q2 and Q4. Note that Quint intergroup revenue from MotoGP is eliminated in our consolidated results through the spin date. Going forward, Quint will no longer be reported in our operating results. F1 and MotoGP are in compliance with their debt covenants at quarter end. And with that, I will turn the call over to Stefano to discuss Formula One.
Stefano Domenicali: Thanks, Brian. 2025 was a thrilling season as we celebrated the 75th anniversary of Formula One with standout performances across the grid. 9 drivers across 7 different teams reached the podium, including phenomenal performance from rookies like Isack Hadjar. Congratulations to Lando Norris for winning the Driver Championship and McLaren for winning the Constructors' Championship. 2026 is set up to be another captivating season as it represents the next generation in F1 incredible history with new cars, engine and regulations. All signs point to an exciting kickoff in Melbourne next week, which we know will sell after intensive precision testing in Spain and Bahrain. We look forward to welcoming Cadillac and Audi to the grid and for the return of Ford with Red Bull and Honda with Aston Martin. In December, we also successfully completed the signing of various elements of the new Concorde Agreement with all teams and the FIA. Engagement across our fan base continues to grow. We welcomed 6.75 million attendances last season, our largest combined attendance in history, up 4% relative to 2024. Australia, Silverstone, Mexico and Austin, each, respectively, welcome over 400,000 fans over races weekend, and we had 19 events sellout with 11 setting new attendances records. The Paddock Club serve 65,000 race day guests, up 10% on the prior year. Last season, many of our Paddock Clubs sold out, and we increased revenue 20% per race on average. Robust demand continues for 2026 with record preseason sales and in partnership with our promoters, we are increasing capacity at certain races while looking to keep enhancing our guest experience. For example, at our Austin Grand Prix, the promoter is currently constructing the new facility at Turn 1, which will host a new Paddock Club space to accommodate more guests. Our promoters also have plans to upgrade the Paddock Club space in Mexico and introduce a new Gordon Ramsay experience in the Paddock in Shanghai, just to name a few developments. We continue to see strong engagement and reach across viewership and our digital and social platforms. Cumulative viewership is up across our broadcast and digital platforms. Global Live TV viewership across all session was up plus 21% year-over-year, showing increased appeal for our core product. F1 race weekends continue to broaden, with practice sessions showing strong increases in viewership. Screen popularity continues to increase with Sprint session viewership up to 10% year-over-year, and qualifying delivered the largest growth across all sessions with audiences up 23% year-over-year. For the Sprint races, we are currently in active discussions to expand the Sprint format up to 12 races in 2027 due to the high demand for promoters and fans. The Sprint format has also demonstrated the impressive performance across fan engagement. Our YouTube content generated 1.65 billion views, up 48% relative to 2024 and with YouTube highlights view, increasing 21% year-over-year. Passenger Princess reached 7.6 million total views, including 1.5 million views within the first week of release, highlights from the first 3 days of the preseason test in Bahrain reached over 8 million views on YouTube, which represents an increase of plus 64% compared with the Bahrain preseason testing session in 2025. And highlights from our first ever Barcelona shakedown reached nearly 17 million views on YouTube. We hope you will be tuning in for season 8 of Drive to Survive. For the fifth consecutive years, F1 continues to be the fastest growing sport on social media. We ended the year with 150 million social media followers, up nearly 20% year-over-year. Commercially, we had another strong year of renewals and new partnership. We have an active year of media rights negotiations, signing or renewing with broadcast partners across multiple territories, including the United States, Pan-Asia, Canada, Brazil, Latin America, Mexico, New Zealand, Japan and India. Apple is now our U.S. Media right partner, and we are excited by their vision, innovation and unmatched ability to reach and engage wider audiences through their platform and marketing scale. This was clearly demonstrated by the success of the full-time Oscar-nominated F1 movie last summer. Apple will be a key driver of our U.S. growth strategy, and we are excited to work with them to drive our next phase of growth in the years ahead. We see major brand alignment between Apple and F1 as this partnership brings together 2 global brands with a shared passion for innovation, excellence and entertainment. We also renew our extended contracts with 9 of our race promoters, including most recently with our promoter in Barcelona. The race will now be officially called the F1 Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, and we rotate with our Belgium race year-by-year throughout 2032. And we will host a Grand Prix in 2028, 2030 and 2032, in addition to the race scheduled for this year. We are also excited to welcome back Portugal to the calendar under a 2-year deals starting in 2027. The third year of the Las Vegas Grand Prix was an outstanding success. Congratulations to the Vegas leadership team for delivering an exceptional race weekend that showcase the very best of Formula One. We sold out the weekend and welcome over 300,000 fans to Las Vegas, while setting up a number of new event sponsors. Content related to our race generated 1.8 billion impression over the weekend, and we are gearing up for another phenomenal race this year. Picking up on sponsorship, we closed out another strong year of growth and continue rising the momentum into 2026, having built out a good pipeline of discussions. We recently signed Standard Chartered as our official banking and wealth management partner in a new multiyear deal. Equally impressive is growth across our other revenue streams, including licensing and hospitality. Our legal partnership delivered great results in its first full year, generating over 27.5 billion impression across marketing activation. Pottery Barn Kids and Pottery Barn Teen continued sales momentum following the launch late last year. Our collaboration with KitKat is also thriving with the new F1 KitKat bars available in stores, driving enhanced retail visibility, and we are excited to roll out a new dimension of our partnership with Disney later this year. Following the successful launch of House44, our premium Paddock Club hospitality partnership with Lewis Hamilton and Soho House, it will expand from 5 to 9 races this year. Visitors to Grand Prix Plaza enjoyed 90,000 track rides at F1 drive last year, and we are excited to reopen Grand Prix Plaza to the public at the end of the January. We are also encouraged by the growth of F1 exhibition, which has sold 1.3 million tickets across all its exhibition and F1 Arcade, which recently opened in Atlanta and has 3 more new locations planned to open later this year. Track side retail sales grew over 30% last year, and F1 hub pop-up merchandise experience operating in Austin, Miami and Las Vegas. This hub saw strong foot traffic and retail sales, and it is planned to open hubs in more locations this year, monetizing untapped merchandising opportunity in key locations. 2026 brings continued focus on inspiring the next generation of F1 fans through our creative activation, partnership and collection appealing to all audiences across our fan bases. We are seeing incredible momentum across all phases of our business. Our sport has delivered exceptional growth, and we see significant upside ahead. The strategy work we are doing now will deliver lasting benefit to our partners, shareholders and our fans. In only a few years, we have achieved so much as a sport and as a business. But we have only begun to scratch the surface of what is possible and the potential for F1 is not being underestimated as we enter another exciting new chapter in our history. Avanti tutta, full speed ahead. And now I will turn the call to Carmelo to discuss MotoGP. Thank you.
Carmelo Ezpeleta: Good morning, and thank you, Stefano. Liberty Media commitment and support of our strategic vision has been a strong ride out of the gate. We are encouraged by the collaborative approach and early progress we are seeing and we are working together to build a strong foundation to drive our sport forward. The 2025 seasons delivered the very best of our sport, through racing and dramatic story lines. We saw a standout performance across the grid with 13 riders on the podium across 10 teams. Congratulations to Marc Marquez on extraordinary come back and winning his seventh MotoGP World Championship. We welcomed a record 3.6 million attendees last season up 21% year-over-year and set attendance record at 9 different circuits. First-time attendees, representing 27% of our total attendance for season, up from 18% in 2024. The 2026 season is gearing up to be another thrilling season. We held our second season launch event in Kuala Lumpur with global attendance and video viewership year-over-year. Fans enjoy musical acts by global artists, including The Script, DJ PAWSA and DOLLA. The 2-day event culminated in a live launch show featuring show runs from teams and riders. We look forward to kicking off the season in Thailand this weekend. Our global fan base now measures 632 million fans, up to 12% from last year, and we continue to strengthen our brand. We recently launched our first event season marketing campaign. Why that's different? Which bring our evolved brand positioning to life and create brand consistency and amplification across all fan channels and touch points. We continue to invest in our fan insight platform to track brand awareness and engagement. This will support the long-term scaling of our commercial functions and enable more targeted and localized content initiatives. We added over 3 million social media followers in 2025 and ended the year with nearly 61 million followers across our own platform, including 4.5 million followers on TikTok, social engagement increases plus 61% and video views across our digital platform, excluding VideoPass, increased 20%. Fans consuming 1 million minutes on our YouTube content last season. Average household tuning into our broadcast grew 9% year-over-year. Satellite sprint races ratios continued to close the gap to Sunday's race coverage with average audience viewerships growing over 26% year-over-year for the Sprint. Subscribers to VideoPass, our direct-to-consumer video service, grew 5% from 2024. We recently extended our Sky Italia broadcast rights deal, and we have also renewed our Moto partnership through 2030. We also had an active year promotor of renewals, including the recent renewal of the Thai Grand Prix through 2031. We are excited to return to Brazil this year after 20 years, and welcome to the grid Brazilian MotoGP rookie, Diogo Moreira. Initial capacity in Brazil has already sold out, underscoring strong demand, alongside coverage from ESPN 41 will be the free-to-air broadcaster of the Brazilian Grand Prix Estrella Galicia 0,0 as title sponsor. Finally, last week, we announced the move of the Australian Grand Prix into Adelaide beginning 2027 under a new 6-year agreement. The landmark race will be the first MotoGP race to be held in a city center, and we are able to do so without compromising our safety standards. Adelaide is an ideal location, bringing MotoGP closer to its fans, and we are excited to put on a fantastic 3-day fan experience. We look forward to continuing to update the investor community on our progress. Now I will turn the call back over to Derek.
Derek Chang: Thank you, Brian, Stefano and Carmelo. We appreciate your continued interest in Liberty Media. And with that, we'll open the call up for Q&A. Operator?
Operator: [Operator Instructions] Our first question today is coming from Stephen Laszczyk from Goldman Sachs.
Stephen Laszczyk: Maybe 2 on margin at F1, if I could. Brian, I appreciate the commentary on team payment in 2026. It sounds like the expectation for team payment operating leverage is for it to be in and around 200 basis points in 2026. So 59.7 going to 57.7 in 2026. Just wanted to confirm that thinking and then see if there were any upside or downside factors that you think investors should be mindful of as we track performance on that throughout the year?
Brian Wendling: Yes. I'd point you to, we said that we added the word generally or primarily or approximately around the 200 basis points. So I wouldn't lock it in stone. As you know, we talked about before, there are different things that can impact the team payment percentage depending on where the profitability is coming from. But generally speaking, we would expect to see about 200 basis points of leverage related to the team payment piece in 2026.
Stephen Laszczyk: Great. And then maybe just beyond the team payment operating leverage point this year and thinking longer term opportunities to grow margins at F1 over the next 3 to 5 years. What factors are still available to you to grow margins maybe outside of the team payment line item that could expand margins for the foreseeable future?
Brian Wendling: Yes. Certainly, as we grow primary revenue streams, you would expect to see some leverage around those revenues. But we continue to invest in the business. And when you look at some of our other revenue streams, they certainly have costs associated with them. We've looked at growth in other costs of F1 revenue in the past. And you can certainly see partner servicing costs there as we grow our sponsorship revenue base, there's incremental Paddock Club obligations that are associated with that. So there is certainly costs associated with growing those revenues. But as we grow the primary revenue streams, we would hope to see some leverage there, but we're also going to balance that with continuing to invest in the business and try new things and try to grow the overall pie.
Stefano Domenicali: Yes. And Brian, if I may say -- add something on that to complete the answer that Brian said, is that all the costs related are connected to the growth of the marginality because, of course, the more we are getting stronger, the more we need to serve what is important to activate. Therefore, that's our philosophy. And in all the revenue stream that we are bringing home, that's the approach. And if I may, also when we are talking about a deal that we have with promoters in the long term, we have the leverage to increase the possibility of investing through them to acquire more possibility to invest with other experience with Paddock Club extensions. This is one example, for example. But that's the philosophy is cost. It's always associated to an increase of marginality related to increase of our revenues.
Operator: Our next question today is coming from Kutgun Maral from Evercore ISI.
Kutgun Maral: Maybe following up and expanding on the margin discussion. I had a high-level question on the durability of your EBITDA growth, which was very strong in '25 and looks positioned to be healthy again in '26. Maybe taking a step back for a second. Since Liberty took over the growth algorithm has been fairly consistent and straightforward. You had rising popularity of the sport and brand combined with strong execution, monetizing revenue streams with a lot of untapped runway. In other words, there was comfort that regardless of the quarter or even year, there would be a lot of room to grow over the upcoming 3 to 5 years, and that vision has clearly played out. As you look out over the next 3 to 5 years now, though, how should we think about what sustains that attractive EBITDA growth profile as some areas either face tough comps or see new dynamics, whether it's lapping very strong sponsorship growth, managing the strategic balance and media rights, a race calendar that's already largely contracted or the new team payout structure? And finally, are there any underappreciated drivers or levers you'd point to that helps support growth from here?
Derek Chang: Stefano, why don't you take this because you've obviously got the thoughts around the growth of the business more holistically. So I think that's a good place to start.
Stefano Domenicali: Absolutely. Thanks, Kutgun. I mean let me start on one thing that I take the opportunity to thank, first of all, our shareholders, our team, the FIA, the teams and all the relevant stakeholders because we have left an incredible moment of our sport. I remember all the earnings calls since I was involved in that, every time was what's next, what's next, what's next. That's a mindset, it's not a guidance. So we have always proven to invest in our future because we do believe in the growth of our sport. And we do believe that in the future, there are so many new opportunities to keep running this rhythm because this is exactly what we are doing together. And the more is strong the ecosystem, the more we are able to catch new opportunities and all the driving force of our revenue streams. And that's why you see what has happened so far in the last couple of years not only in terms of turnover, but also in terms of EBITDA. And this will continue because we see, as we said so many opportunities to keep growing. And the fact we are stabilizing in certain ways, certain promoters deal will allow us to leverage, as I said before, other investments that will bring us other opportunity to return. We are able -- we were able to explore the possibility of engaging with new categories of our partners and largely, for example, if you look at the financial services, we were able to contract with other -- with multiple partners because we are identifying different categories. We are opening up the opportunity of digitalization so new opportunity. We are having licensing that is just starting a great momentum with the big deals that we have just even today announced for the bigger relationship with business and so on. So there is a lot of things that we're going to bring and to keep growing the sport business at all level. That's I definitely confirm. That's our mindset, our approach, we wake up in the morning with these things. We are in a competitive world, not only on the track that remains our focus for sure, but that's the aim of all of us doing this job to increase the return of our investors for sure.
Derek Chang: Yes, I think that's right, Stefano. And look, I think what's -- what people need to appreciate also is just the strength of Stefano's team and the creativity there and sort of what they've been able to accomplish over the last several years in terms of revenue streams and categories that may not have been fully sort of appreciated in terms of what they could be. And if you look out now, what they've done, for instance, in the U.S., where can you take -- what other geographic markets are still out there that are large significant and potentially untapped. So we are constantly looking for those opportunities and ways to drive the business. I think the heart of it is what Stefano keeps pounding at, which is to help the sport, the engagement that the sport creates and all that sort of stuff is really the fundamental basis for this.
Operator: Our next question today is coming from David Karnovsky from JPMorgan.
David Karnovsky: Maybe just zeroing in on the prior question, but for sponsorship, really strong results this year, though arguably, that sets up a tough comp this year. So wanted to get your view on '26 growth? And how we should think about the follow through, not only from deals executed last year, but maybe kind of what's in the pipeline?
Stefano Domenicali: I can answer on that, David, stay tuned. As we always shown, we are not -- and also, as Derek says, we are quite creative in finding new opportunities. You're going to see already this year some deals have lifted with new opportunity that we can offer new quality and new things that we want to offer. We don't have to forget one thing at the end of the day. Of course, now that the quantity is really, in a way, great, we need to focus on the quality of what we're bringing in. And this is really the thing that we are focusing because of course, we have a trajectory of new projects in the pipeline, but our focus is to keep the quality of the partner that now are trusting and following Formula One. Therefore, it's a trajectory that will continue. It's a trajectory that will enable us also in a competitive landscape to make some decision. And as we have in the field of promoters, we have the quality problem to have more often than -- more demand than offer. We are in the same spot also on the sponsorship side. So as I said, all the partners are happy. Our point is to create quality content for them, qualitative experience, qualitative value of what they're investing in Formula One. And that has been so far the case and will continue because, of course, the more we are able to succeed on it, we are able to attract even new ones approaching from other disciplines that is happening already, as you have seen, new partners to us.
David Karnovsky: Okay. And then maybe just following up here. The press release had called out contribution from digital advertising. I think that's the first. Can you just clarify, is that inventory on the website apps or F1 TV? And what's the opportunity here?
Stefano Domenicali: Well, the opportunity is quite important because now we are not only in the world of physical advertising, we have the digitalization that will enable us to use in all the different channel possibilities to put to the advertising but we have different platforms. We have the Podcast, we have YouTube. We have other social media opportunity, we will monetize in the future even stronger.
Operator: Our next question today is coming from Bryan Kraft from Deutsche Bank.
Bryan Kraft: I guess I'll ask the Vegas question. It seems like Vegas didn't generate really incremental revenue versus last year, but it did generate significant incremental EBITDA due to the cost side. So I just -- I guess I wanted to ask, is that a fair assessment? And what do you think the opportunity is in 2026 to grow Vegas, both in terms of top line and bottom line? Are there any key changes in how you'll approach the event or go to market with tickets this year versus in 2025?
Derek Chang: Stefano, do you want to just talk about Vegas broadly? And then Brian and I can you talk about some of the more specifics?
Stefano Domenicali: Sure. Sure, Derek. I mean, first of all, in a synthesis, or trying to be set at that point, it has been an incredible strong progress in what will deliver in the short term, even a big cash flow aim in that investment. I think that the key turning point of that has been our ticketing proposition. The fact that we have also a new different way of proposing the partner, the experience and the sales to them. But the most important one that will have a factor in the next couple of years is the new dynamic that we are creating with the community. And with the new things that we will announce in the due time, this will enable us to have an impact also on the P&L of this that is incredible, positive. And you will see soon that we want to make sure that this Grand Prix will keep being something incredible to be a sort of a spotlight of the year because the focus is to keeping that as a unique experience. And of course, you reduce the cost that is associated to the building up of this event in a new city like Vegas. And so therefore, the huge potential is definitely there. We have been very happy about the outcome of this year, and we're definitely going to be even more happy in the projects that we're going to do together in the next couple of years in front of us.
Brian Wendling: Yes. And then specifically on the -- on Vegas results for 2026, we did see revenue growth. It's a little bit difficult with our various categories within Vegas because it doesn't all show up in race promotion. Where we really saw growth was we saw increased sponsorship revenues. We saw increased hospitality revenue associated with Vegas. And then also 2026 was a year of trying to achieve some greater cost savings. So we definitely saw some cost savings there. So pretty significant incremental profitability. It just doesn't show up in the race promotion line. It shows up in other spots.
Bryan Kraft: If I could just ask, I mean, it sounds like based on Stefano's comments that you do see the opportunity to continue to grow Vegas from here though. Just to make sure I'm interpreting that correctly?
Stefano Domenicali: Yes. Absolutely, yes. Sorry, I can't show the different numbers, yes.
Derek Chang: Yes, very happy and excited about it.
Operator: Next question today is coming from Peter Supino from Wolfe Research.
Peter Supino: A question on capital allocation and your communication and then another one on media rights. So I actually start with the media rights. We were excited about your deal with Apple because we've long believed that the movement of important sports rights to streamers was a growth opportunity for the intellectual property owner. In your case, we've had investors go as far as to call your deal with Apple "a disaster" because of their perception that Apple means less distribution for F1 in an important growth market, the U.S. And so I wonder if you could comment on why in your prepared remarks today, you expressed so much confidence that Apple can expand awareness and engagement of F1? And then on the communications side, and I guess this ties to capital allocation, your stock in the last 6 months has become, at least from our perspective, mired in sort of a myopic discussion about team payments, margins and operating leverage, and it's ironic because Formula One is a growth company. And so I wondered if you could talk at all about ways in which your communications might help investors appreciate the duration and magnitude of your growth opportunities going forward?
Derek Chang: Stefano, why don't you start on Apple?
Stefano Domenicali: Yes. Thank you, Peter. I mean, first of all, I think that we are very, very happy about the deal with Apple for many reasons. And I think that it's important that the one that in our opinion, not so many, but anyway we respect that, of course, they don't understand the deal is because beyond that, there is a huge opportunity to increase the reach. There is an incredible opportunity for Apple to use all their channels, all their platform to promote our sport in a way that has never been done before. There will be the opportunity for the younger generation to be connected with the tool that is more logical for them to use in living the sport and our business. So I do believe that this will represent a big step opportunity to increase also our revenue streams, not only in terms of direct one, but also in terms of awareness in the American market that will enable us to convince also the one that are not believing on that, that is the right move. But on that, we are not even a single doubt. It's a great move. It's great things that will happen that will give a big boost to our performance in the American market. And that our community has not even a single doubt.
Derek Chang: Yes. And I would add on that. I mean, look, everyone understands that the landscape has been changing for many years now. And the former sort of terminology around reach and things like that are a bit antiquated. And we see from an Apple standpoint is complete 100% dedication to F1. I saw Tim Cook and Eddy Cue at Super Bowl, and they've got the full weight of the organization behind it. And in that respect, it's not just sort of Apple TV, it's Apple music, Apple news, the Apple stores. So from a reach standpoint, there's many different ways that we will be able to reach and engage with our fans. I think the other thing that's interesting about Apple here, and we saw the news with the broadcasting races and IMAX theaters, right? And this sort of draws on my prior life in the pay television industry, like you wouldn't be able to do something like that necessarily with the traditional broadcaster because of a lot of restrictions that get put into traditional media deals, right? So Apple in that sense, and I think you'll see here in the near future, other announcements along those lines that will sort of bring more life into that. But I think there is that sort of ability to create new ground here, which we will do with Apple, are committed to do. I think the other thing that will be something to watch closely over the next 5 years is sort of what happens with the actual product. As we know, Apple is at its heart a tech company. We are a tech company. The broadcast is sort of very technical in nature, what you can actually do with that as a collective force will be interesting to watch over the next several years. I think on the second question, which was capital allocation. What we talked about at our investor conference was familiar themes, which clearly, we're in a deleveraging phase right now. Everyone understands that will sort of hit a point that we feel comfortable with respect to making additional investments. We've been pretty clear about our discipline in this respect and our desire to invest around sort of into the actual businesses themselves in and around those businesses, certainly, and then in similar sorts of asset classes where we've got great IP, low capital intensity and the ability for us to actually bring value either through insights we have, relationships we have, capital structures that we have, things like that, that will continue to allow us to have ourselves be a growth vehicle.
Operator: Certainly. Our next question is coming from Joe Stauff from Susquehanna.
Joseph Stauff: I wanted to ask, just following up on the number of changes in F1 this year, engine, regulatory and how that affects certainly competition in parity. I'm sure that's naturally the goal over the long term sort of drives interest in the sport. But just wondering the best way to think about how maybe some of this higher competition could affect the P&L in the near term, call it, 2026 versus next year? What are the near-term sort of impacts of how we think about the financial implications of that?
Derek Chang: Stefano, why don't you talk about the changes and what you're seeing and all that sort of stuff and then we can get into what the implications are?
Stefano Domenicali: Yes. Well, first of all, the implication -- let me start from one thing. The F1 has the duty to be always an innovator league sport, has been always -- that has been always the duty of our sport because by innovative, we can attract new investors. And the immediate effect of this regulation has attracted new manufacturers back into the sport. We have Audi, we have Ford, we have Honda, we have Cadillac that did come in because of this regulation. And if I may, before, of course, that has taken the second part of the financial, this would be an immediate effect on the financial because they will invest in our sport. They will invest in our initiatives. They will invest in all the ecosystem that would generate for them a sort of a platform to invest to let the brand be known by the customer. So that's a direct effect. On the other side, of course, there is a great interest, a great opportunity to showcase that the level of technology is always relevant to what is needed in the technological world. We have sustainable too. We have hybrid engine, and we've been always the first to believe on that. And we create excitement because the nature of the regulation will allow all the teams to develop this year car race the race. You're going to see a season where every race will be different, that will be, for sure, at the beginning bigger gaps that will be restricted because of the nature of the regulation. And therefore, as always, F1 understand when there is the need to move forward faster than the others, and that has been always our philosophy. And that will attract the interest not only of the one that I said to you before, but the new fans that through the new content that we are generating will connect to us and of course, by enable to be connected directly with them, we can even leverage the fact that we will offer something new to them. They're going to be a big push on the merchandising side of it. It's going to be big push also to our partner Quint to create new packages to promote to them. So this is the reason why we change the things for multiple reasons.
Derek Chang: Yes. I mean just to follow on that. I don't think we sat here and said we're building a kind of incremental into the '26 business plan because of these changes. But that being said, as Stefano hit on quite clearly, these changes are going to drive continued interest and engagement in the sport. And hopefully, as he says bring in new participants, new fans and all the sort of accrued benefit that comes with that, that ultimately results in monetization. I think the other thing in parallel here that is happening this year, as you know, there are some big names that have come into the sport between Audi and Cadillac and Ford, Honda coming back. It's pretty significant in terms of someone like Cadillac spending on a Super Bowl ad and what they're doing to promote their team on the track. So this is all part of the evolution of what F1 is and Stefano and his team have done a fantastic job of cultivating relationships, cultivating these partnerships, building the sport into something that we do look at on a multiyear basis, not sort of how this is going to drive something in the next week or next month. And that's constantly what we're trying to do is built for the long term.
Joseph Stauff: Understood. Maybe one just quick follow-up. Could you maybe just give us an update on the changes of the commercial team at Moto? And any other obviously changes that you're making, obviously, now that you own it for about 6 or 7 months and how to think about that?
Derek Chang: Sure. This is Derek. I mean, as we stated, or Carmelo stated, we're in the process of sort of putting out our brand and executing behind it, really. And I think that part of that is what's happening at the track in the hospitality, and we're going to see some pretty dramatic improvements, I believe, over the course of this year, where we're putting these tracks -- our races, excuse me, as we're getting them closer to cities where we can benefit from all the infrastructure and the attendance and all of that sort of stuff, including, as we mentioned, in Adelaide, it's going to be right in the city center. And then how we go about sort of ultimately monetizing, commercializing that, we need the right team in place. And that's probably an area where we haven't had the sufficient sort of personnel there and we are building that. It's obviously not a heavy lift to sit there and hire folks up. So that's what we're in the process of doing. As we have stated previously, this will take some time in terms of the ultimate commercialization. We'll see some areas pick up sooner rather than later. But over -- if you look at F1 as a parallel, we're in our 10th year and you're still seeing some of these new revenue streams sort of being activated. So we continue to be even more sort of bullish on Moto even if the results don't necessarily show in the short term, it's clearly a long-term proposition for us, which is -- which -- and we like to invest in for that long term. So we're very excited.
Operator: Our next question is coming from Ryan Gravett from UBS.
Ryan Gravett: Just to follow up on the media rights topic. Now that you're through the latest round of renewals, not just in the U.S. but some markets in Latin America and Asia as well. Just curious what your key learnings were and how you think you're positioned for the next round of renewals in Europe over the coming years? Do you expect similar interest for digital players in those markets as well?
Derek Chang: Stefano, do you want to start?
Stefano Domenicali: Yes. Thank you. I mean, I think that our position with the media renewal, as you see, is quite dynamic. And I don't want to anticipate anything, but stay tuned in the next days, you will see something else coming up. The real point on that is the interest is very strong. The numbers are very strong. And the key focus on what we need to make sure we keep doing is understanding if we keep going because we are a worldwide market in the so-called traditional way of the delivering our sport to our credit broadcaster or in certain markets, there is an opportunity. As we did in U.S. to move into the streaming platform because each country is different. We have the incredible opportunity to be so strong worldwide, that we cannot have one single way of delivering our content in the same way and there are different time lines that we need to consider. So it's a bigger ecosystem. And I think that we have proven so far to make appropriate analysis before taking the final decision. So for sure, we want to be active and proactive in this world because the media right is not totally media right on the sports, the media rights are following other things in this moment. Therefore, I think that the reason why you see so many good news coming in is because we want to be proactive, and we feel that we are able to understand the evolution of the market, considering the difference that we have from area to area. But stay tuned because already next week going to be something new happening.
Operator: Our final question today is coming from Ian Moore from Bernstein.
Ian Moore: When we look at trailing motor results, I think everyone sees an opportunity to drive monetization, particularly sponsorship to where F1 kind of is today. But F1 itself seems to continue to overdeliver on sponsorship. So I guess, more generally, what do you guys kind of see as the right mature mix directionally of media rights, race promo, sponsorship for these businesses? And then, I guess, for motorsport businesses more broadly?
Derek Chang: Yes. I think -- look, it's early, but I think along the same lines is probably not a bad place to end up. And it's going to be over time that some of this stuff happened. But I think you've already seen that we're announcing new races next year, which will lead to some uptick there. And -- but then the sponsorship side of things probably lags a little bit as we build the brand and reengage with the potential partners. But I do think that the ability for us to draft off of what F1 has done there and the Liberty name being able to sort of have credibility around what we're going to deliver with respect to Moto is something that we are excited about. Again, it will take some time, but we feel comfortable that that's going to happen. I'll just end by saying there's good receptivity in the market. This -- we had a partner someone, as I mentioned in Barcelona last week, a lot of good enthusiasm, a lot of good energy there. There's a lot of good enthusiasm in the investor base around teams. I can't tell you how many people have reached out expressing interest. So I think people see it. The other thing about Moto in comparison to maybe other sports right now of its size, which tend to be more emerging sports, Moto has a long, long history to draw on and many stories to tell as a result and an established fan base and established brand recognition. So we're starting from a place that's much different, and hopefully, it's something that we can accelerate here over time.
Hooper Stevens: Thanks, everybody, for your participation in today's call. Apologies if we didn't get to your questions, we'll look forward to speaking with more of you offline. Thank you.
Operator: Thank you. That does conclude today's teleconference webcast. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and have a wonderful day. We thank you for your participation today.