Bernie Ecclestone’s daughters will share a £500MILLION windfall if F1 racing is sold to American media tycoon John Malone
THE daughters of F1 kingpin Bernie Ecclestone are set to share a massive £500million windfall if the sport is sold.
Talks are ongoing over a possible deal which would see US media tycoon John Malone take control of the brand.
The American’s Liberty Media Corporation owns a slew of companies including professional sports teams in the US.
The group also owns a string of cable TV channels – including Discovery and shopping channel QVC.
And the businessman hopes to use his channels to screen the racing – and is willing to pay a reported £6.3billion for the privilege.
A sale for this amount would see heiresses Tamara Ecclestone, 32, and sister Petra Stunt, 27, make a tidy nine-figure fortune without lifting a finger.
The pair are believed to be beneficiaries of a trust which owns an 8.5 per cent stake in the sport.
That would be worth around £535million if the F1 sale went through for the reported price.
Malone is discussing taking over an initial 10 to 15 per cent stake in the brand, with a view to assuming full control at a later date.
But the deal is far from set in stone.
Bernie – who is worth an estimated £2.3billion according to Forbes – wasn’t giving much away when quizzed about the possible sale.
He is reported to have said only “We will see”, adding “I will do what I’ve always done”, in an apparent hint that he could stay on in some capacity, even if F1 changes hands.
Ecclestone himself owns a 5.3 per cent stake in the sport, which generates £1.1billion in sales every year.
The tycoon’s socialite daughters have already amassed a fortune in their own right.
Tamara lives with her hubby, ex-city banker Jay Rutland in a plush £70million pad in West London.
The pair got married in a £7million wedding in France last year and spent a whopping £70,000 on their daughter’s first birthday party.
And Mrs Stunt lives with her businessman husband James Stunt in an extravagant £63million LA mansion that’s bigger than the White house – complete with its own hair salon, florist, and orchard.
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