August 10 – Liverpool are closing in on a major shake-up of their ownership structure, with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos part of a consortium reportedly poised to acquire a stake of more than 30% in the Merseyside club.
The group is being led by businessman Amit Bhatia and also includes Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, bringing some serious financial firepower to Anfield without, for now at least, ending Fenway Sports Group’s 16-year control of the club.
According to Sky News, FSG is preparing to announce the investment, potentially as soon as this week.
Bezos is comfortably the biggest name – and deepest pocket – involved. The Amazon founder’s fortune is estimated at more than $280 billion, while Saverin is reportedly worth north of $32 billion.
Bhatia is no stranger to English football either. The son-in-law of Indian steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal was previously a shareholder and vice-chairman at Queens Park Rangers and has now turned his attention towards getting a considerably bigger slice of the English game.
The proposed transaction would value Liverpool at around $6 billion, putting the deal among the largest investments ever made into a football club.
It would also represent a spectacular return on FSG’s original investment.
The US group, then known as New England Sports Ventures, paid around £300 million to take Liverpool out of the hands of Tom Hicks and George Gillett in 2010, arriving with the club in financial distress and the ownership battle having spilled into the courts.
Sixteen years later, Liverpool have since added two Premier League titles, a sixth European Cup and a hat full of other domestic titles, while Anfield has been expanded and the club’s commercial operation transformed. FSG have plenty on their plate already, having split the attention between their other sporting portfolio projects in MLB’s Boston Red Sox and the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins.
The size and identity of the incoming investors will inevitably raise questions over what comes next. The answer to that question is still a little hazy, though the deal is structured as a minority investment, leaving FSG in control. But a consortium containing one of the world’s richest men is unlikely to arrive without attracting speculation over Liverpool’s longer-term ownership.
FSG had already confirmed last month that talks were taking place.
A spokesperson said: “An investment consortium led, managed, and represented by Amit Bhatia has expressed interest in making a strategic minority investment in Liverpool Football Club.”
For now at least, FSG remains in the driving seat.
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at harry.ewing@insideworldfootball.com