Liverpool’s owners have agreed to sell a minority stake in the club to a consortium including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Fenway Sports Group confirmed on Friday.
The consortium, 1892 Holdings, is led by British-Indian businessman Amit Bhatia, a former Queens Park Rangers co-owner, and also includes Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin. The group is acquiring roughly a third of the club in a deal reported to value Liverpool at more than £5 billion, with an option to take majority control within the next 12 months at a higher valuation.
Bhatia will become Liverpool’s vice-chairman and join an expanded board, alongside Bryan Baum of Bezos’s K5 Sports fund and Saverin’s wife, Elaine. Bezos, the world’s third-richest person, is investing in a sports team for the first time, having previously been linked with NFL franchises.
“We are incredibly proud to be investing in Liverpool Football Club and to be doing so alongside FSG,” Bhatia said. FSG president Mike Gordon added that the consortium “shared our long-term philosophy and appreciation for what makes Liverpool special,” while stressing FSG will retain majority ownership and operational control.
FSG bought Liverpool for £300 million in 2010. Liverpool open their Premier League season away to Newcastle on 23 August, having finished fifth last season, a result that led to Arne Slot’s dismissal as manager just a year after winning the title.
– AFP
Photo: REUTERS/Abdul Saboor
