Client News/Details

Snell & Wilmer Advises Motorsport Network in Sale of Controlling Stake in World’s Largest Independent Motorsport Racing and Automotive Media Platform

June 29, 2023

ORANGE COUNTY – Snell & Wilmer advised Motorsport Network (MSN) in a sale of its subsidiary Motorsport Network Media (MSNM), a global digital media platform in motorsport and automotive, to private investment firm GMF Capital (GMF). According to a recent press release, the terms of the acquisition include GMF Media, an affiliate of GMF, acquiring the controlling majority stake in MSNM, with an option to buy the remaining minority interest at a later date.

MSNM, with 40 million-plus monthly users and an active social media community of more than 15 million followers, is the world’s largest independent motorsport racing and automotive media platform. The nearly 50 flagship motorsport racing and automotive digital properties now under GMF control include racing brands such as Motorsport.com, Autosport, Motorsport-Total, and GPOne, as well as automotive industry brands such as Motor1.com and InsideEVs.com. The deal also includes the Motorsport Network brand name, as well as Motorsport.tv, the leading video platform for live and on demand streaming, and the Autosport Awards, the world’s premier motorsport racing annual awards ceremony. See recent press release.

Serge V. Pavluk led the Snell & Wilmer team advising MSN in the sale. The multi-disciplinary team across the firm’s several office locations included Katherine Annuschat McCaig, Katherine McKitterick Nessan, Dana Ontiveros, Caitlin Pyatt, Nicole T. Smith, and Paralegal Sharon Mason Ferraro (corporate), Bahar A. Schippel (tax), R. Lee Fraley (intellectual property), Gina L. Miller (labor and employment), and Greg Gautam (employee benefits).

Snell & Wilmer’s mergers and acquisitions attorneys are well-versed in providing strategic, innovative legal and business services for complicated corporate transactions. They have extensive experience with transactions in a variety of industries, including highly regulated industries where the intersection of business and government requires a particularly strategic and risk-sensitive approach. Their experience, coupled with deep industry knowledge, allows them to provide thoughtful, innovative, and comprehensive solutions for all of their clients. Snell & Wilmer’s clients include sellers, buyers, investors, banks and bankers, venture capital firms, private equity firms, institutional lenders, independent directors and committees, management groups, creditors, and creditor committees.