• Buyer has been dubbed ‘Darth Vader’ for deal-making style • ‘What role I play is my decision,’ says Bernie Ecclestone

A media mogul nicknamed “Darth Vader” is close to taking control of Formula One in a deal that will net billions of pounds for the private equity firm that controls the sport.

John Malone’s Liberty Media, which owns a collection of media, telecommunications and entertainments businesses, could announce it is investing in F1 as early as this week after talks with CVC Capital Partners, which has controlled the sport for a decade.

Bernie Ecclestone could remain key to F1’s future even if takeover goes ahead | Paul Weaver Read more

It is understood Liberty Media will initially buy a stake in Formula One of up to 20% before taking full control later in the year. The deal will value the sport at around £6.4bn (US$8.5bn).

An analysis last year by Formula Money found CVC has made $4.4bn from the sport. It now owns 35.5% of the stock in the sport’s parent company but has control as its shares have special voting rights. The other shareholders include Waddell & Reed, an American fund manager which has a stake of just under 20%, while Bernie Ecclestone holds 5.3% and his Bambino Trust another 8.5%.

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The future of Ecclestone, the chief executive of Formula One Group, will be one of the key decisions facing the new owner. The German magazine Auto, Motor und Sport reported on Sunday that a deal with Liberty Media is set to go ahead. Ecclestone also suggested he is likely to keep a key role in the sport. “I will do what I have always done. What role I play is my decision.”

Chase Carey, a key lieutenant of Rupert Murdoch at News Corporation and a non-executive director of Sky, is being lined up to become chairman of Formula One.

Malone and Murdoch have a long-running rivalry in the media industry. Malone has built up a global empire that includes Discovery Communications, the owner of the Discovery and Eurosport channels, Virgin Media and the Atlanta Braves baseball team. He was nicknamed Darth Vader by Al Gore, the former US vice-president, for his aggressive dealmaking.

The tycoon has a long-standing interest in Formula One. Liberty Media’s sister companies Liberty Global and Discovery Communication were close to a deal in 2014.

Formula One is one of the most profitable sports in the world. Other companies that have been linked with buying into it include Sky, the Qatari owner of Paris Saint-Germain football club, and even Apple.

Formula One Group holds the commercial rights to the sport, making its money from sponsorship deals, television rights and charging fees to the venues that host the grands prix. The profits for the owner are in contrast to the financial struggles of some of the teams and the tracks. Silverstone, for example, struggles to make a profit despite attracting 150,000 fans for the British Grand Prix.

Formula One claims to be the most-watched sport on global television. However, it is under pressure to modernise and become more entertaining due to the current dominance of Mercedes, whose drivers are Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg and have won 13 of the 14 grands prix this season.

Three years ago, Bob Fernley, the deputy team principal at Force India, accused CVC of “raping the sport” and said they were the “worst thing that has ever happened to Formula One”.

CVC bought a 70% stake in Formula One in 2006 for around $1.7bn and has more than doubled its money even before giving up control of the sport. The private equity firm has made the money through dividends from Formula One and selling minority stakes to investors such as giant US fund manager BlackRock and the Norwegian sovereign fund.

The estate of Lehman Brothers, the bank whose collapse sparked the financial crisis in 2008, also holds a stake in the business. Formula One is so profitable the administrators to Lehman Brothers decided to retain the bank’s holding in the sport to help pay off it debts.