Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is reportedly close to joining a group of investors seeking to acquire around 30 percent of Liverpool Football Club, in a deal that could value the Premier League club at roughly 6 billion dollars.
The investment group is led by Amit Bhatia, a British Indian businessman and former shareholder of Championship club Queens Park Rangers. Facebook cofounder Eduardo Saverin is also part of the consortium alongside Bezos. Reports from Forbes, Sky News and Al Jazeera suggest an announcement could come as early as this week, though the exact timing could still change.
Fenway Sports Group, which has owned Liverpool since 2010, is expected to stay in control of the club even if the deal goes through. FSG confirmed last month that a consortium led and represented by Bhatia had expressed interest in making a strategic minority investment in the club.
According to reports, the proposed deal would involve a stake slightly above 30 percent, valuing Liverpool at around 4.4 billion pounds, or about 5.9 billion dollars. If it closes, this would rank among the most valuable transactions ever involving a football club.
Bezos, whose fortune is estimated at more than 280 billion dollars, has been linked to major American sports franchises before, but he has never held a significant ownership stake in football. His potential involvement in Liverpool would mark a notable expansion of his interests into global sport, an area he has largely stayed out of until now.
Saverin has also shown interest in football investment before. He was part of a consortium that tried and failed to acquire Chelsea back in 2022, so this would not be his first attempt at entering the football ownership space.
The timing of this potential deal is interesting given where Liverpool currently stands. The club finished fifth in the Premier League last season and parted ways with manager Arne Slot shortly after. Former Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola has since taken over as manager, and long serving forward Mohamed Salah has also left the club. Despite these changes, Liverpool remains one of English football's most successful clubs, with 20 league titles and six European Cups to its name.
For FSG, this would represent another major financial milestone since it took over Liverpool. The group has done this kind of deal before, having sold a minority stake to Dynasty Equity in 2023 in a transaction that valued the club at more than 4.5 billion dollars at the time.
If the deal with Bhatia's consortium closes, it would bring significant financial strength and high profile investors into Liverpool's ownership structure while still letting FSG retain control of the club. That balance, bringing in fresh capital and star power without giving up control, appears to be the structure FSG is aiming for as it continues to grow the club's value.
For football fans watching from Nigeria and across Africa, where Premier League clubs command massive followings, the news adds another layer to what has already been a season of change at Liverpool. Between a new manager, the departure of one of the club's most recognisable players in Salah, and now a potential change in ownership structure, there is a lot shifting behind the scenes at Anfield.
Whether Bezos ends up formally joining the ownership group remains to be confirmed, and the timing of any announcement could still shift. But if the reports prove accurate, it would place one of the world's richest men inside the ownership structure of one of football's most storied clubs, adding his name to a growing list of billionaires who have moved into sports ownership in recent years.
For Liverpool supporters, the more pressing question may be less about who owns the club and more about how quickly the team can find its footing again on the pitch after a difficult season.
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