McLaren F1 Head Zak Brown Announces his Resignation From Motorsport Network

It seems that big changes are afoot at Motorsports Network, especially in the past couple of days. Earlier, it was announced that the network will shut down the Autosport print magazine publication. Now, McLaren CEO Zak Brown has announced that he is stepping down from the company.

The network is currently headquartered in Miami, Florida and London, United Kingdom. The company’s brands and websites primarily focus on motor racing and consumer automotive content.

The private business was founded in 2015 with the acquisition of Motorsport.com and now operates international digital, print, e-commerce & event businesses.

Motorsport Network to Pull the Plug on the Autosport Weekly Magazine Publication

The McLaren CEO, Brown was made the non-executive chairman of the Motorsport Network in early 2016. During his tenure, he oversaw the purchase of the Autosport brand in the same year.

However, it was worth noting that the outgoing Autosport magazine was on sale for double the price. Meanwhile, the F1 Racing magazine was sold to content house Lifestyle Media, in the wake of the transfer of licence to use F1’s intellectual property from the Formula One Management. On the other end of the scale, the status of Motorsport News’ is currently unknown, with the Network saying that they are ‘exploring options’.

These changes have met with hue and cry from long-time readers and subscribers. Mostly Autosport subscribers, as it was a mainstay of motorsport journalism. While many jobs will be laid off, the exact number is yet to be confirmed, nor whether other publications within Motorsport’s sphere will close.

“I’d like to thank Zak Brown for all that he has done in his role as Non-Executive Chairman since January 2016.” said Motorsport Network CEO Yavor Efremov. “Without him, we would not have been able to grow Motorsport Network to the level we’ve reached today. I look forward to continuing our personal friendship and professional collaboration in the future.”