A group of investors that includes Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has secured the right to become Liverpool's majority shareholder within the next 12 months, should Fenway Sports Group choose to sell down its stake in the Premier League club.
The investment vehicle, 1892 Holdings, finalized its entry into Liverpool's ownership structure last Friday. While initial reports suggested the consortium had acquired somewhere between 30% and a third of the club, it has since emerged that the actual stake purchased amounts to 38%. That figure, first disclosed by the Athletic, means 1892 has handed FSG in excess of £2 billion for its minority position — a transaction that places Liverpool's overall valuation at approximately £5.5 billion.
FSG, which acquired the club for a comparatively modest £300 million back in 2010, was quick to clarify that the arrangement should not be interpreted as the beginning of a wind-down of its ownership. The American ownership group maintains it faces no obligation to part with further shares in the club at any future point. Nonetheless, the deal does contain a provision granting 1892 first refusal on a controlling stake if FSG decides, within the coming year, to sell or shrink its holding further.
Sources close to the situation describe this arrangement as an option available to 1892 rather than any binding commitment from FSG's side. Should FSG opt to exit or reduce its position, the pathway for 1892 to inject additional capital and assume majority control would open up. For now, FSG continues to run Liverpool's day-to-day operations and retains its position as the dominant force in the boardroom.
The prospect nevertheless raises the intriguing possibility that Bezos — one of the wealthiest individuals on the planet — could eventually find himself among the club's controlling owners, alongside consortium leader Amit Bhatia and Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, another billionaire figure attached to the investment group.
At present, Bezos's involvement is characterized as that of a passive investor. His stake came through K5 Sports Fund, a vehicle in which he serves as lead investor. Bryan Baum, co-founder and managing partner of K5 Global, is set to join an enlarged Liverpool board of directors. He will sit alongside Bhatia, who takes up the role of vice-chair, and Elaine Saverin, wife of Eduardo Saverin, who also secures a board position.
Bhatia's involvement in the deal has been financially underpinned by the Mittal Family Trust. His father-in-law is Lakshmi Mittal, the Indian steel tycoon, adding another layer of significant wealth to the consortium. The Mittal family's fortune is estimated at around $17 billion, while Saverin's personal wealth is put at roughly $33 billion — figures that underline the financial firepower now circling one of English football's most storied institutions.
What happens next largely hinges on decisions yet to be made in Boston, where FSG is headquartered. The Boston-based group has given no indication it intends to relinquish control of Liverpool in the near term, but the structure of this latest deal ensures that, if circumstances change, 1892 Holdings and its billionaire backers are ready and positioned to step in as the club's new majority owners.
Based on reporting from Guardian Football.