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#441260
3 years? I can't wait! :rolleyes::clap::rolleyes:

ESPNF1:

Bernie Ecclestone says he has been asked to stay in Formula One for three more years once a takeover deal involving Liberty Media is complete.

The first part of a deal valued at $8.5 billion is expected to go through in the coming week, seeing CVC Capital sell part of its controlling stake in the sport to Liberty Media. Reuters reports that a Formula One board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday next week to introduce Chase Carey, the executive vice-chairman of Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox, as the F1's chairman.

However, 85-year-old Ecclestone, who is currently F1's CEO, says he will be kept on by the new owners.

"They want me to be here for three years," he told Reuters.

Ecclestone revealed he would not fly to next weekend's Singapore Grand Prix in order to make sure the deal is finalised.

"Because all this is going through, they [CVC] want me to be there [in London] to help them with all sorts of things. I can't afford to be away for five to six days."

Since news broke of Liberty Media's takeover plan, there has been intense speculation about the changes the American media giant could make to the sport. Ecclestone says Carey is likely to take control of a number of aspects that have arguably been neglected by F1's current owners.

"He [Carey] can do lots of things that I haven't done with this social media, which he seems to be in touch with. He's been dealing with sponsorship with his TV people. Between us we'll get on with it."
#441264
He's probably being kept on for a "seamless" transition!
I'm betting it won't take 3 years for the media giant to find
its footing in the ways of F1!!
#441301
Martin Whitmarsh a contender to replace Bernie Ecclestone as F1's new owners draw up successor shortlist

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/formula-1/20 ... ne-as-f1s/?
#441534
ESPNF1:

Bernie Ecclestone may have turned 86 today (Happy Birthday, Mr E), but I won't use that as a reason to offend octogenarians by offering it as an excuse for some of his statements -- even more absurd than usual -- that hit the headlines yesterday.

Actually, 'hitting the headlines' is probably an appropriate phrase. Apart from Ecclestone's devious pleasure in creating box office appeal for F1, it strikes me that the increasing number of sound bites in recent weeks is an indication of a faintly desperate need to prove that he remains the focal point of a business that previously had his name above the door.

It must be difficult, after 40 years, to suddenly face the fact that the only thing of consequence outside your family is about to be forcibly removed for good. And not on your exact terms. Forget the new three-year contract. Ecclestone is wise enough -- and certainly old enough -- to realise that his desk will be metaphorically eased into the corridor alongside the water cooler as soon as the new bosses fully understand the complexities of this unique business and feel ready to take complete charge.

Bernie is free to say what he pleases, of course. The problem here is that safety is a sensitive subject, particularly when the speaker appears to make light of it by helping create headlines that shout for more crashes to 'spice up' F1. There's no point in Ecclestone complaining his words were taken out of context; he knew full well the selective sensationalism likely to result from his flippant remarks.

The contradiction comes if you agree there is thread of truth running through some of his statements. Building walls is impractical -- not to mention stupid -- even if their presence would bring the need for 10 times more precision than is necessary when the penalty for a misjudgement is the minor inconvenience of a high-speed detour across an asphalt run-off. I get the theory behind what he says just as much as I go along with the call to have Charlie Whiting make a track limit exactly that. Install kerbs, add gravel (where safe to do so without causing a car to dig in and roll); just do whatever is necessary to increase the challenge.

But for Ecclestone to suggest that in an incident such as Fernando Alonso's massive shunt in Melbourne, it would be a 'bit of showbiz' to put big sheets around the scene, bring in the ambulance, take the driver away and string out the drama by not announcing the relatively uninjured driver is okay until much later: if this is not tongue in cheek, then it is Birthday Boy who needs carting off for urgent medical attention.
:rolleyes:
#441980
There's hope the old coot is on his way out :clap:

ESPNF1:
Bernie Ecclestone has cast doubt over his long-standing Formula One reign after the sport's governing body approved the sale of its commercial rights to Liberty Media.

Chief executive Ecclestone, who turns 87 in October, has ruled Formula One for 40 years. But American company Liberty may now choose to put their own team in place after clearing the final hurdle of their purchase, valued at more than £6billion, with a unanimous vote of approval from the FIA.

American Chase Carey, the 21st Century Fox vice chairman, was installed as the new Formula One chairman when Liberty agreed to take control from private equity firm CVC Capital Partners last September.

And Ecclestone, who expects the takeover to be completed "within three or four weeks", has conceded he is uncertain how his role may be affected.

"We will have to see how we set the company up," Ecclestone told Press Association Sport when asked if he will continue as CEO. "It is not a case of my terms, it is a case of let's have a look and see which way they would like to go.

"It is something that would have happened anyway. We need to put something together if I am not here because I have become deceased or something and it is about time we did that.

"We were in the middle [of that] and when we knew these people were probably going to buy we backed off and thought 'let's wait because they own the company and it is up to them to decide who or what they want'."

When Liberty bought an 18.7 percent stake from CVC in September, Ecclestone said the prospective new owners wanted him to stay on as chief executive for three years.

"That is what they asked for," Ecclestone added. "In fact we are going to try to put together people that can look after all the things I have been trying to find people to do, which is the sponsorship and things like that.

"As I said, let's see how we are going to operate."

Liberty, run by 75-year-old American John Malone -- given the nickname Darth Vadar for his hard-line approach -- are keen to expand Formula One in the United States, improve the sport's reach on social media, while safeguarding the future of its traditional venues. Liberty's portfolio includes Virgin Media and baseball's Atlanta Braves. They also hold a large share of the Discovery Communications group.

On Wednesday, a meeting of the World Motor Sport Council, which includes FIA president Jean Todt and Ecclestone, agreed to Liberty's purchase of Formula One, 24 hours after the company's shareholders gave the green light to press on with the deal.

"They [the FIA] didn't have any choice," Ecclestone added. "They had no way they could not approve, unless the people that were going to come in were bandits.

"The only reason we had the meeting is because we wanted changes to the FOM [Formula One Management] contract -- little changes -- and they were all approved. No dramas.

"I think that [the deal] should happen within the next three or four weeks."

Asked if he expected Liberty to be the sport's new owners in time for the start of the season in Melbourne on March 26, Ecclestone added: "Yes. Absolutely. One hundred percent."
#441982
Patty Smyth says it best, Goodbye To You

Bye-bye Bernie

[youtube]/gy7SWp44POE?t=77[/youtube]
#441990
Good riddance!

ESPNF1:
Bernie Ecclestone's four-decade reign as the ruler of Formula One is over after American company Liberty Media completed its £6 billion purchase of the sport.

Chase Carey, who was already installed as the sport's chairman, replaces Ecclestone as chief executive officer.

Ecclestone, 86, has been handed the role of chairman emeritus, and will be available as a source to the new board, but he will no longer be involved in the day-to-day running of Formula One for the first time since the 1970s. .

"I'm proud of the business that I built over the last 40 years and all that I have achieved with Formula One, and would like to thank all of the promoters, teams, sponsors and television companies that I have worked with," Ecclestone said.

"I'm very pleased that the business has been acquired by Liberty and that it intends to invest in the future of F1. I am sure that Chase will execute his role in a way that will benefit the sport."

Earlier in quotes carried by German publication Auto, Motor and Sport, Ecclestone appeared to suggest he had been forced out by the new owners.

He said: "I was deposed today. This is official, I do not run the company any more. My position has been taken by Chase Carey.

"My new position is one of those American terms -- it's something like an honorary president. I have this title now, even though I don't know what it means."

He added: "My days in the office will be getting quieter now. Maybe I will attend a grand prix sometime in the future. I still have many friends in Formula One and I still have enough money to afford to attend a race."

Ecclestone, who turns 87 in October, has ruled Formula One for 40 years. But American company Liberty has now put their own team in place after clearing the final hurdle of their purchase.

American Carey, the 21st Century Fox vice chairman, was installed as the new Formula One chairman when Liberty agreed to take control from private equity firm CVC Capital Partners last September.

:sickman:

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