Premier League club Liverpool sell minority stake to Jeff Bezos consortium

LONDON: Liverpool’s owners have agreed to sell a minority stake in the Premier League club to a consortium including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
US-based Fenway Sports Group, owners of the 20-time English champions, said they had agreed the deal with 1892 Holdings, a consortium led by British-Indian millionaire Amit Bhatia and also featuring Bezos and Eduardo Saverin, who co-founded Facebook.
According to reports, the stake acquired by the consortium is around one-third of the club.
American tycoon Bezos is the fourth-richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of $256 billion.
Bezos is not expected to join Liverpool’s expanded board of directors, which will reportedly feature Bhatia as the Premier League club’s vice-chairman.
But Bryan Baum, founder of the venture capital firm K5 Sports, which Bezos is using to invest in Liverpool, is set to become an Anfield board member, alongside Saverin’s wife Elaine.
“Liverpool has always been built by thinking beyond one season and making decisions with the club’s long-term interests in mind.

That approach continues to attract interest from respected investors and business leaders around the world,” FSG president Mike Gordon said Friday.
“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.”
The deal is believed to place Liverpool’s value at between £5 billion ($6.8 bn) and £6 billion.
It is Bezos’s first investment in a sports team after he was previously linked with purchasing NFL franchises Seattle Seahawks and Washington Commanders.
Bhatia, the son-in-law of Indian billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, has extensive experience of football boardrooms after serving as