Liberty Media CEO and president Greg Maffei is to leave his role when his current contract runs out at the end of this year. He will be replaced as interim CEO by Liberty’s 83-year-old chairman and founder John Malone. Liberty says that from January 1 he will continue to serve as a senior advisor to “support the management transition.”
Maffei: “I am confident that this is the right time”
Maffei has been at Liberty since 2005, and after the company acquired F1 in 2016 he was in effect the immediate boss of Chase Carey, Ross Brawn and latterly Stefano Domenicali. While he also has responsibility for Liberty’s many other interests he leaves at a difficult time for F1, with the new Concorde Agreement yet to be signed, and the prospective Andretti entry becoming a legal headache for the organisation.
Liberty says that his departure was timed to coincide with a corporate reorganisation. Among the changes Liberty Live – which includes concert promoter Live Nation – is to be split off a separate public company. Quint, the VIP hospitality division that was previously part of F1, will now come under Liberty Live.
“The almost 20 years I have spent at the helm of Liberty Media have been incredibly rewarding, stimulating and endlessly eventful,” said Maffei. “While it’s never easy to leave an organization as dynamic as Liberty, I am confident that this is the right time. I have thoroughly enjoyed working alongside and learning from John, our board, the management teams at Liberty and across the family of companies and our shareholders.”
Regarding the Quint deal he said: “Since acquiring Quint in January 2024, we have bolstered its partnership with F1 and gained insights into our fans and ticket demand trends, but Quint is also complementary to our interest in Live Nation, especially as Live Nation works to grow its hospitality operations. Quint can continue to enhance its partnership with F1 and MotoGP in this new ownership structure while having the opportunity to expand its offering to additional partners.”
Malone paid tribute to the departing Maffei
“On behalf of the Liberty Media board, I’d like to thank Greg for his leadership, creativity and dedication,” John Malone said. “Since joining in 2005, Greg has been at the forefront of the exciting evolution in the life cycle of Liberty. He has grown our asset base and made the company better and more valuable for shareholders, along the way overseeing as many as five separate public companies simultaneously.
“Especially following today’s transaction announcements, our company is simpler and more focused than ever before, which is a perfect capstone for Greg’s accomplished career at Liberty. I wish Greg continued success as he embarks on his next chapter and appreciate his continued support as an advisor.”
