It already looked like this would be a summer of profound change at Liverpool, with chief executive Michael Edwards leaving Fenway Sports Group and director of football Richard Hughes to join Al-Hilal in September.
Some industry observers have speculated that this could mark the beginning of a “long goodbye” for FSG.
The group’s willingness to discuss selling a significant stake is seen by some as an acknowledgement that, with the club valued at nearly £4.5bn, it may be an opportune moment to gauge interest.
FSG insists the discussions are aimed at injecting more capital rather than walking away and says it is not discussing a full sale at this stage.
But the emergence of Jeff Bezos as a potential partner in a consortium led by Amit Bhatia, the former Queens Park Rangers owner and son-in-law of billionaire steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, suggests there is a heavyweight feel to potential takeover talks.
Bezos is the headline grabber, the Amazon founder with an estimated worth of £191bn.
He is yet to get involved in sports and has never professed a love for football but sources believe he – like many of the other so-called “tech bros” – is taking an active interest in the Premier League because of its global popularity.
“This would be a soft launch into that space,” one source told The i Paper. “The size of the investment would be peanuts but he can test the water for something bigger so I can see why this structure of a deal would appeal to him.”
What is in it for Bezos?
The American entrepreneur has never shown an interest in football – until now (Photo: Getty)Ego. When you have all the money in the world, it is hard to keep it under control. The richer you get, the more it gets naturally inflated. And it starts to make decisions for you.
“When spending time with these wealthy guys, you learn that a lot of the decisions that they make are not 100 per cent financially related,” Andre Da Costa, advisor to English clubs looking to attract American owners and co-host of The Soccer Business podcast, tells The i Paper.
“They are what we call post-economic. They already made billions, so they’re not looking just for a financial return. I was in the UK three weeks ago. I met with an American owner and we’re having a conversation about what he was trying to do. He says ‘my peer group were challenging me to be successful in European football. That’s the real game.
“It’s easy to do in the US. It was an ego play in the healthiest way possible of him challenging himself. There is an element that we forget about the personal fulfilment in these moves, the ego of being able to show people that you can do it. You can do better than the next guy. Liverpool have much to prove right now – they are perfect for massaging egos.”
Perhaps what is most startling about Bezos’ potential involvement in this deal is he is not a sports fan, and has never invested in any team before, in the US or overseas.
But that has not stopped the myriad of other American investors spending their millions on English clubs at all levels.
While football teams on the whole don’t make any money, the chance to have influence on such a global obsession is just too hard to resist for the rich and powerful.
“When you look across the pond, there is an asymmetric upside,” Da Costa adds. “These clubs have these rabid fan bases. They are credible, historical institutions. There is nothing close to English football in terms of global interest.
“But the hardest thing for American investors to wrap their heads around is how these clubs, with all that attention and eyeballs, can lose an outstanding amount of money on a year-to-year basis.
“The only way to influence that is to take control. The more American capital that we get into English football, the more we’re going to see new regulations and different types of financial control. And we’re seeing that with SCR [squad cost ratio] being implemented in both the Premier League and the Championship.
“And it will go beyond that. I was speaking to a very prominent EFL club owner and he was like ‘these hydration breaks are great. I want them to come to the EFL. We need to be able to generate more revenue for our broadcasting partners because we need more money for our media rights. And they’re in negotiations.”
What is the potential impact on Liverpool?
Liverpool look in need of a rebuid after a disappointing Premier League title defence (Photo: Getty)Anyone thinking it will make a huge impact on the pitch is probably barking up the wrong tree.
Bezos and Bhatia would be able to draw from vast reserves of wealth, of course, but Uefa and Premier League regulations – which Liverpool have enthusiastically supported – limit how much you can spend.
Equity injections on off-the-field projects are allowed but throwing money at transfers isn’t.
And there has been little to suggest that American investors want that model anyway.
“It wouldn’t be about dropping a load of money into the first team and buying new players,” Professor Rob Wilson, a football finance expert and programme director at the University Campus of Football Business, says.
“It would be about business continuity. You can’t do a Roman Abramovich these days. How do you establish a major business enterprise that can generate vast swathes of revenue and grow the size of the entity we’ve purchased?”
The addition of Bezos – and the doors it potentially unlocks to the Amazon empire – could boost Liverpool’s revenues. There could be link ups on video on demand, merchandise and data sharing, known as “verticals”.
“Amazon are a huge user and receiver of data so there’d be some neat activations they could do to increase product flow, merchandising and access to new markets – the buzz words boards look to achieve,” Wilson says.
“It’d be a win-win from that perspective.”
What does it mean for FSG?
Richard Hughes is among a number of high-profile exits at Anfield this summer (Photo: Getty)Plenty of questions. The high-profile departures behind the scenes have created a sense of flux at Anfield and Hughes’ imminent departure – as reported by The i Paper back in May – means there will be an overhaul at executive level.
Edwards left because FSG’s interest in buying clubs and establishing multi-club model dwindled. That was further food for thought. So far they have had a low-key transfer window, although insiders insist there is scope to make big additions and Bournemouth’s Rayan is on their long-term hitlist.
FSG regards much of this talk as “noise” and have been consistent on the need for outside investment but given the valuation of the club is now £4.5bn, finding those investors and partners is not easy.
“The valuation of Premier League clubs means we’ve whittled down the potential pool of owners down to the mega-rich individuals like Jeff Bezos, private equity companies or sovereign wealth funds,” Wilson says.
“That kind of wealth also means timelines for return of investment are much longer, too.”
If a deal did go through, the structure of the club would be fascinating. Would Bezos really be happy to take a backseat? And would Bhatia want to spend more than a billion to have no say on what goes on at Anfield?
There are more questions than answers about possible investment.
What are fans thinking?
Some Liverpool fans will wonder if Bezos is a good fit (Photo: Getty)There is mixed emotions among Liverpool fans, according to Redmen TV’s Dan Clubbe.
While some see the pound signs, others fret about what change in ownership structure might mean in the long-term.
For all that they have made missteps, FSG has tended to listen to supporters and performed U-turns if things have gone down badly.
“It does feel like the beginning of the end for FSG at Liverpool because of the sheer wealth involved,” Clubbe says.
“I’ve had a hunch for a while they’re getting itchy feet and wondered what an exit might look like given the way prices are going up in the transfer market. That’s in no small part down to Liverpool, we’ve played our part in that, but I don’t think it’s a place they’re particular comfortable in and there may be movement towards selling a stake with maybe a view to something bigger.
“It’s a minority stake but it’s a significant stake.”
On Bezos’ involvement, Clubbe admits there will be some who look at his track record in business and wonder if it is a good fit for a club that retains strong socialist roots and has reacted strongly to possible Middle Eastern interest recently.
But he also acknowledges that the money involved in the top flight now means the perfect owner might not exist.
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“Football sold its soul many years ago and the days of having local businessmen with the best interests of the club at its heart are gone,” he says.
“I’d love to have the owner of Liverpool hail from West Derby or Huyton but it’s not realistic. There’s no perfect owner – FSG has made massive missteps, and then rowed them back.
“The [Jeff] Bezos thing is intriguing. It adds an extra element of star power because the riches are so rich and there’s controversy around how he’s operated his businesses. A lot of fans will look purely at the numbers involved and will go ‘It means we can do what we want in the market’ while other fans in a city with socialist roots will not like it.
“Football ownership is the sphere of the mega-rich now so you sort of have to swallow it and move on, provided they’re not absolutely horrendous.”
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