Bernie greasing the wheels? Surely not?!
Discussion
Did a quick search and didn't see this mentioned anywhere, apologies if it's already been covered.
Caught a glimpse of it sitting on the bottom of tomorrow's FT front page...
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/78cb9e2c-b1fd-11e0-a06c-...
Caught a glimpse of it sitting on the bottom of tomorrow's FT front page...
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/78cb9e2c-b1fd-11e0-a06c-...
Financial Times said:
Prosecutors in Germany have publicly alleged for the first time that Bernie Ecclestone and a trust belonging to the Formula One supremo’s family paid almost $44m in bribes to a German banker.
In return, Mr Ecclestone received $41.4m in commissions from BayernLB, the German bank, while a family trust company was paid $25m, German prosecutors allege.
Well I never...In return, Mr Ecclestone received $41.4m in commissions from BayernLB, the German bank, while a family trust company was paid $25m, German prosecutors allege.
hornetrider said:
Good read. I thought it was interesting to see Bernie mention News Corps position at the moment and with the phone hacking it is unlikely that Murdock will be able to bid for F1 which is what he wanted to do.Did anybody see the panorama program about phone hacking?! Spanky made an appearance and has admitted to funding people going up against news corp in court. Could phone hacking scandal coming out right now all be a hatchet plan by bernie and spanky to stop news corp bid on F1?! Seems a little strange that murdocks empire is falling down all of a sudden. Gotta love a good conspiracy theory
freedman said:
Chrisgr31 said:
Did he really pay £27.3 million so he could receive £40.9 million I know its a lott of money but the percentage increase seems hardly worth the risk.
You think a 50% return isnt worth it?The bloke is worth over £2billion, he buys houses for £60m+ for his daughters, he was once the highest paid company director in the UK (paid himself a £55m salary) and thinks nothing of writing-off £5m+ in loans to the likes of Jordan GP, etc.
For him to take such an obvious risk for a return of ONLY £13.6m makes no sense - unless there's something even bigger behind this story???
I wonder how long it will be before Bernie calls upon his old mate Max for an escape plan?
Briatore must be loving every minute of this handy diversion, although I think he'd have preferred Murdoch to stay out of trouble.
What a mess.
One thing's for sure: no matter how one looks at it, this is not good for F1…
Briatore must be loving every minute of this handy diversion, although I think he'd have preferred Murdoch to stay out of trouble.
What a mess.
One thing's for sure: no matter how one looks at it, this is not good for F1…
cosicave said:
I wonder how long it will be before Bernie calls upon his old mate Max for an escape plan?
I fail to see what Max could do to help. He seems to be somewhat impotent recently.cosicave said:
Briatore must be loving every minute of this handy diversion, although I think he'd have preferred Murdoch to stay out of trouble.
Unless Murdoch makes a new channel that is free to air to show F1, he would not be in a position to put in a bid for the F1 rights. The phone hacking sideshow is irrelevant.cosicave said:
What a mess.
One thing's for sure: no matter how one looks at it, this is not good for F1…
Bernie is not F1. Some struggle to believe that, but they are usually the same plebs who believe that F1 couldn't survive without Ferrari.One thing's for sure: no matter how one looks at it, this is not good for F1…
GarrettMacD said:
For BE, no, it's not worth it.
The bloke is worth over £2billion, he buys houses for £60m+ for his daughters, he was once the highest paid company director in the UK (paid himself a £55m salary) and thinks nothing of writing-off £5m+ in loans to the likes of Jordan GP, etc.
For him to take such an obvious risk for a return of ONLY £13.6m makes no sense - unless there's something even bigger behind this story???
Bigger than greed? The bloke is worth over £2billion, he buys houses for £60m+ for his daughters, he was once the highest paid company director in the UK (paid himself a £55m salary) and thinks nothing of writing-off £5m+ in loans to the likes of Jordan GP, etc.
For him to take such an obvious risk for a return of ONLY £13.6m makes no sense - unless there's something even bigger behind this story???
playalistic said:
Bigger than greed?
Possibly!The only logical explanation is that the German wheels had to be 'greased' in order for the whole CVC deal be done. We're going back to 2005/6 when the PE firms were flush with cash, and if it looked like a deal was stalling they'd just move on to the next one.
It's possible that BE saw the CVC deal as his last chance before the bull came crashing down, and with it the huge money for his daughters and (now ex-)wife??
Let's face it, he wasn't going to be leaving F1 in his will, was he???
GarrettMacD said:
Possibly!
The only logical explanation is that the German wheels had to be 'greased' in order for the whole CVC deal be done. We're going back to 2005/6 when the PE firms were flush with cash, and if it looked like a deal was stalling they'd just move on to the next one.
It's possible that BE saw the CVC deal as his last chance before the bull came crashing down, and with it the huge money for his daughters and (now ex-)wife??
Let's face it, he wasn't going to be leaving F1 in his will, was he???
Last chance? Last chance at what?The only logical explanation is that the German wheels had to be 'greased' in order for the whole CVC deal be done. We're going back to 2005/6 when the PE firms were flush with cash, and if it looked like a deal was stalling they'd just move on to the next one.
It's possible that BE saw the CVC deal as his last chance before the bull came crashing down, and with it the huge money for his daughters and (now ex-)wife??
Let's face it, he wasn't going to be leaving F1 in his will, was he???
Bernie wanted out! He has tried to get out twice and both times *had* to come back in because its gone tits up.
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