The future of Chelsea Football Club was thrown up in the air this past weekend as majority owners Clearlake Capital are looking to buyout Todd Boehy’s minority stake in the club.
The current Chelsea Chairman has a 13% minority stake in the Premier League club but Clearlake are reportedly seeking an acquisition of Boehly’s stake in order to remove his influence over the club.
As currently constructed, Clearlake owns a 61.5% majority stake in Chelsea, with the rest of the club’s ownership being shared across a consortium made up of Boehly and his partners Mark Walter and Hansjörg Wyss.
After the takeover of the club in 2022, after previous owner Roman Abramovich was forced to sell, Boehly became the frontman of the consortium behind the £4.25bn takeover fee.
Boehly then took over as club Chairman and interim Sporting Director, taking control of Chelsea’s transfer activity which has seen the team spend over £1bn on player transfer fees, bringing in more than 39 players since 2022.
Despite spending twice more than any other Premier League team in the last two seasons, it has not resulted in success on the pitch, finishing 12th and 6th at the end of the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons respectively.
Now, Clearlake leaders Behdad Eghbali and José E Feliciano are looking to remove Boehly’s position permanently by acquiring his stake in the club, potentially offering the American entrepreneur a ceremonial position in the future.
It is believed that Boehly is not only adamant in not selling, he has also drawn up plans with potential investors to acquire Clearlake’s majority stake in the club, valuing it close to £2.5bn.
Where Clearlake may have trouble in convincing Boehly to sell is that under the current setup of the Chelsea boardroom, it would need a unanimous vote of approval from all three of Boehly, Eghbali and Feliciano.
Although the Chelsea Chairman may be convinced to sell if a “compelling” offer is made according to The Guardian, it appears that Boehly remains confident in his long-term project for the club.
He has even stepped back his approach on the football aspects of the club, resigning from his Sporting Director role in favour of more knowledgeable people in the sport to take control.
If Boehly continues his stance, Clearklake may opt to buy out other minority owners Walter and Wyss in a bid to place further pressure on Boehly.
