UPDATE 2-F1 owner Liberty Media picks sports executive Derek Chang as CEO

Adds background in paragraph 3 to 6

Jan 8 (Reuters) - Formula One owner Liberty Media FWONA.O on Wednesday named veteran sports executive Derek Chang as president and chief executive officer, effective Feb. 1.

Chang will replace Liberty Chairman John Malone, who has been serving as interim CEO after long-time top boss Greg Maffei stepped down at the end of 2024.

Media mogul Malone, known for his success in consolidating U.S. pay-TV businesses with complex financial structures, set up the Liberty media empire.

Liberty plans to sharpen its focus on motorsports investments such as Formula One and MotoGP by spinning off the majority of its other assets.

In November, the company agreed to merge Liberty Broadband, which was spun off from Liberty Media in 2014, with Charter Communications CHTR.O in an all-stock deal.

Liberty also said it would split off unit Liberty Live Group into a separate public entity, which will own about 70 million shares in U.S. concert promoter Live Nation Entertainment LYV.N, among other assets.

Chang, a Liberty director since March 2021, has held senior executive positions at YES Network and TCI Communications. He was also CEO of NBA China from 2018 to 2020.

"Our current focus is clear: optimizing the portfolio structure with the split-off of Liberty Live and supporting the growth of our attractive operating assets, including F1 and MotoGP post-acquisition, to continue their momentum and invest for the future," Chang said.

Maffei spearheaded the company's rapid expansion across media, communications, sports and entertainment sectors during his nearly two decades at the helm.

(Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)

((HarshitaMary.Varghese@thomsonreuters.com;))