Sport 07-12-2004 Ecclestone Loses Control of F1 who: Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone what: Loses company control court case to major shareholders where: The High Court, LONDON when: Yesterday snippet: "Bernie Ecclestone`s grip on Formula One is no longer absolute," says Kevin Garside in The Telegraph. "A High Court judge settled a legal dispute yesterday in favour of the banks that own 75 per cent of Ecclestone`s F1 empire. In theory at least, Ecclestone is a reduced figure this morning though you wouldn`t have guessed it to hear him talking yesterday." "The Englishman, 73, has held lucrative commercial control of the wealthy sport for three decades since establishing the Formula 1 Constructors` Association in 1974," recalls Robert Verkaik, legal affairs correspondent to The Independent, in a paragraph that bears a startling resemblance to one attributed to James McMillan in The Scotsman. "As Formula 1`s commercial rights holder, he has been able to negotiate deals with circuits, sponsors, teams and the world governing body to help the sport become the multi-billion-pound industry it is today, as well as making him a very wealthy man." Resolving yesterday`s dispute between Ecclestone and the three banks - Bayerische Landesbank, JP Morgan and Lehman Brothers - Justice Andrew Park awarded the banks "voting rights commensurate with their shareholding," writes Garside, leaving Ecclestone`s family company, Bambino Holdings, without a majority vote. "Yet if the three banks who have taken on Ecclestone and apparently won feel they will have an easy ride from this point onwards," says The Guardian`s Alan Henry, "then they have learned precious little about the dapper, white-shirted businessman who made formula one the biggest leisure business on the planet." [... more]

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