Jeff Bezos set to buy over 30% stake in Liverpool

A consortium including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is closing in on a deal to buy a roughly one-third stake in Premier League club Liverpool.

It was learnt that Fenway Sports Group (FSG), the Anfield club’s controlling shareholder since 2010, is preparing to make an announcement about a transaction as soon as this week.

The deal will see Bezos participate in an investor group alongside Eduardo Saverin, one of the co-founders of Facebook.

The syndicate is led by Amit Bhatia, the son-in-law of steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal and until recently a shareholder in Championship club Queens Park Rangers.

If completed, the deal would install a trio of the world’s wealthiest individuals as co-owners of Liverpool, one of the most successful teams in the history of English football.

Bezos alone has a fortune estimated by Forbes at over £207 billion ($280 billion), while Saverin is said to be worth over £23.7 billion ($32 billion).

Their investment in Liverpool will reportedly value the club at £4.4 billion ($6 billion), making it one of the sport’s richest-ever deals.

While Bezos has not previously been linked to deals in football, his prospective involvement in the Liverpool FC consortium underlines the extent to which sport is now viewed by wealthy investors as an asset class in its own right.

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Saverin, 44, was part of a consortium which assembled an unsuccessful takeover bid for Chelsea FC during the 2022 auction triggered by Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

A source told Sky Sports that the deal was now expected to be slightly larger than previously thought, potentially involving a stake of over 30 per cent.

If its valuation hits £4.4b billion ($6 billion), the deal will reinforce the huge financial success that FSG has enjoyed during its 16 years as the club’s owner.

The Boston Red Sox owner acquired Liverpool for just £300 million with the club in a troubled state financially.