Now Reading: Bezos, Bhatia-led group nears deal for 30% stake in Liverpool
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Bezos, Bhatia-led group nears deal for 30% stake in Liverpool
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is part of an investor consortium led by British-Indian businessman Amit Bhatia that is closing in on a deal to buy roughly a third of Liverpool Football Club…
The Story in Brief
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is part of an investor consortium led by British-Indian businessman Amit Bhatia that is closing in on a deal to buy roughly a third of Liverpool Football Club from Fenway Sports Group (FSG), Sky Sports reported on Monday. Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin is also in the group. The deal could be announced this week or next, sources said.
The investment values Liverpool at around Rs 51,000 crore ($6 billion). FSG, which bought the club for Rs 2,550 crore in 2010, would retain control. Bhatia, son-in-law of steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, is selling his stake in Queens Park Rangers to focus on this deal. The stake is now expected to be slightly over 30 per cent.
The Indian Opinion
Another billionaire parade into English football is treated as natural here, but rarely does any Indian story examine the sport's regulatory capture. Bhatia's consortium should trigger questions about Premier League ownership tests, not just celebration of Indian-origin money. If the deal values Liverpool at twice what private equity Dynasty Equity paid in 2023, the test is whether FSG will use this cash to lower ticket prices or just pocket it.
Sources (3): sports.ndtv.com, sports.ndtv.com (2), hindustantimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the 3 sources linked above.
Updated: this story now draws on 3 sources.
