RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — A consortium containing Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin is buying a minority stake in Premier League club Liverpool, the English soccer giant said on Friday.
Club owner Fenway Sports Group (FSG) said in a statement it entered into a “definitive agreement” for the sale to 1892 Holdings.
The investor group is led by Amit Bhatia, who is married to a daughter of Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, and has taken a stake of more than 30% in the 20-time English champion, according to Sky News. The deal reportedly values Liverpool at around $6 billion.
Boston-based FSG paid 300 million pounds ($400 million) to take over Liverpool in 2010 and also owns the Boston Red Sox. FSG said in July that it had been approached by the Bhatia-led consortium regarding a “strategic minority investment” in the club.
“As we considered this opportunity, it became clear that Amit and the consortium shared our long-term philosophy and appreciation for what makes Liverpool special,” FSG president Mike Gordon said in the statement.
It marks the first foray into soccer by Bezos, who, according to Forbes, is the fourth richest person in the world with a net worth of around $280 billion. He founded Amazon in 1994 and has been executive chairman since 2021.
Saverin is a Brazilian businessman worth around $36 billion, according to Forbes.
Bhatia, a British-Indian entrepreneur, was the co-owner of second-tier English team Queens Park Rangers for 18 years before stepping down recently.
“We are making this investment because we believe deeply in Liverpool and its leadership, and we look forward to supporting the club’s continued success for years to come,” Bhatia said in the statement.
Under the leadership of FSG and its principal owner John Henry, Liverpool ended a 30-year wait to be English champion in 2020 and added another Premier League title last year. That tied Manchester United on 20 English top-flight league championships.
The club was European champion for a sixth time — a record for an English team — in 2019.
The Premier League is one of the biggest competitions in sports, with its teams now largely owned by oil-rich gulf states or private equity.
Can Liverpool now start spending heavily?
Liverpool now has three of the richest people in the world as minority owners.
That doesn’t mean, however, that the club can simply start spending recklessly in the transfer market on new players.
That’s because the Premier League has financial rules in place to protect the competitive balance of the competition and ensure the financial sustainability of clubs.
In broad terms, a club’s on-pitch spending is related to 85% of its “football-related revenue and net profit/loss from player sales,” the Premier League says.
Instead, the difference will come in how Liverpool — already one of the top teams in world soccer — is marketed more around the world under Bezos and Saverin, especially.
The deal is likely to bring more commercial revenue into the club, thereby improving its profits.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
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