McLaren - Ron Dennis set to leave McLaren F1
Discussion
rubystone said:
His contract is up in 7 months' time once the Cup starts. He's off to Bermuda in a few weeks' time with the team and his focus is in moving the team's business footing from tactical to strategic. The first (well, second actuelly) fruit of his labour comes soon - BAR will announce a partnership with a commercial operation to use some of their technology shortly. This is all public record.
What's interesting to me at least is that he has said to several people that he'd not rule out a return to F1 if the position were right. This is neatly ambiguous: was he approached about the McLaren role but considered it not suitable or was he not approached about it? I favour the latter. I think he'd work very well with Brawn. He's still very passionate about the sport and I personally think that his experiences with McLaren have made him a tougher nut. Like Ross! he's intelligent, professional, generous with his time and unfailingly polite.
I have to say, when he was Team Principal at McLaren, he presented a much more open, human face of the team (albeit sadly no more successful).What's interesting to me at least is that he has said to several people that he'd not rule out a return to F1 if the position were right. This is neatly ambiguous: was he approached about the McLaren role but considered it not suitable or was he not approached about it? I favour the latter. I think he'd work very well with Brawn. He's still very passionate about the sport and I personally think that his experiences with McLaren have made him a tougher nut. Like Ross! he's intelligent, professional, generous with his time and unfailingly polite.
CraigyMc said:
Vaud said:
belleair302 said:
Martin Whitmarsh is very happy doing his America's Cup work and I dont think has any interest in coming back to F1. he didnt show much interest recently when interviewed in I think the Telegraph. He had a huge pay off and now enjoys a different life in a different sport. America's Cup in Bermuda next year will be a huge sporting event.
$10M? I would suspect that it bought McLaren a lot of years of non-compete, by mutual agreement....?Never thought he was really up to the job myself as mclaren needed (need) someone the team could galvanise behind, whitmarsh would be a bit more home in a horner/newey setup perhaps, someone more the diplomatic team leader "face" in a team as much led from behind the scenes by a strong designer influence.
hairyben said:
I didn't think team principles were paid anything of that order, was there more to the payoff or do they really pick up several odd mill a year?
I suspect that ordinarily a Team Principal would only be paid several million if they won the Championship.However, we know how much Martin Whitmarsh was paid as the published accounts for McLaren Racing Ltd tell us:
"Amounts allocated to this company in respect of compensation for loss of office of a director is £9,750,528".
Whitmarsh was the only Director of McLaren Racing to leave during 2014 so this can only relate to him.
Whitmarsh was also a director of McLaren Technology Group Ltd (and possibly some other McLaren companies, I haven't checked). The consolidated group accounts say that a total of £10,834,000 was paid to directors as compensation for loss of office so there may have been some further compensation paid (or it could relate to other people with the McLaren group).
ralphrj said:
I suspect that ordinarily a Team Principal would only be paid several million if they won the Championship.
However, we know how much Martin Whitmarsh was paid as the published accounts for McLaren Racing Ltd tell us:
"Amounts allocated to this company in respect of compensation for loss of office of a director is £9,750,528".
Whitmarsh was the only Director of McLaren Racing to leave during 2014 so this can only relate to him.
Whitmarsh was also a director of McLaren Technology Group Ltd (and possibly some other McLaren companies, I haven't checked). The consolidated group accounts say that a total of £10,834,000 was paid to directors as compensation for loss of office so there may have been some further compensation paid (or it could relate to other people with the McLaren group).
I think a director of such a large company(s) is going to earn a heck of a lot more than a regular team principle however, no?However, we know how much Martin Whitmarsh was paid as the published accounts for McLaren Racing Ltd tell us:
"Amounts allocated to this company in respect of compensation for loss of office of a director is £9,750,528".
Whitmarsh was the only Director of McLaren Racing to leave during 2014 so this can only relate to him.
Whitmarsh was also a director of McLaren Technology Group Ltd (and possibly some other McLaren companies, I haven't checked). The consolidated group accounts say that a total of £10,834,000 was paid to directors as compensation for loss of office so there may have been some further compensation paid (or it could relate to other people with the McLaren group).
LaurasOtherHalf said:
I think a director of such a large company(s) is going to earn a heck of a lot more than a regular team principle however, no?
This was a specific payment to terminate his employment though and he'd been there 24 years! If Newey can earn £6m a year, I guess a top team principal must be on at least 50% of that.
rubystone said:
Who, Dennis? I think that's unlikely but watch this space...
Yep. http://news.sky.com/story/dennis-in-battle-over-16...TheOversteerLever said:
the bid has been rumoured for some time, which is why I was so surprised at the news he was to be fired. And it seemed odd to suspend him when the bid was about to be leaked...his mandate was to find investment. All parties knew that China was the best bet and he spent time there over the past 2 years to try to secure investment. So now it seems disingenuous for the other parties to reject this, and it smacks of personal vendettas now rather than good business sense. The history behind the acrimony is in the past and should be left to lie now. TheOversteerLever said:
Sad if true. Ron is a bit RonSpeak for me, but I massively admire his achievements.I wonder if anyone could help me in my ignorance of big financial matters.
Does RD's suspension put a stop to, make more unlikely, his bid to buy 50% of the shares?
The move smacks of pettiness, although not knowing anything about big business that's just an opinion.
Does anyone know about such things?
Does RD's suspension put a stop to, make more unlikely, his bid to buy 50% of the shares?
The move smacks of pettiness, although not knowing anything about big business that's just an opinion.
Does anyone know about such things?
Derek Smith said:
I wonder if anyone could help me in my ignorance of big financial matters.
Does RD's suspension put a stop to, make more unlikely, his bid to buy 50% of the shares?
The move smacks of pettiness, although not knowing anything about big business that's just an opinion.
Does anyone know about such things?
In 2009 it was reported that MTG was worth £1.2billion. Since then, most people would argue that the value should have fallen as income is greatly reduced through loss of sponsors and prize money.Does RD's suspension put a stop to, make more unlikely, his bid to buy 50% of the shares?
The move smacks of pettiness, although not knowing anything about big business that's just an opinion.
Does anyone know about such things?
Ron's offer looks good as a business proposition, so clearly the other shareholders are seeing this as a personal issue. They can afford to refuse any offer.
My understanding is that the offer is for the ENTIRE McLaren group. And I'd argue that the Automotive side and the Technology side are both in a stronger position than when taken into account for the valuation mentioned by another poster. The F1 team, in the schemes of all this, does not have so much of an influence on that valuation. This I'd imagine that any decision to accept the offer would involve more than just Mumatalak and Ojjeh. I think they expected RD to simply focus on buying them out of the F1 team. So aside from the petty suspension, I'm assuming there is a lot of due diligence going to take place over the next few weeks. But there's no reason why that should force RD to be suspended. But the High Court seems to think otherwise!
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